Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blog post by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights releases we're eagerly awaiting.

From #1 New York Times-bestselling author Marissa Meyer, comes a high-stakes world of adventure, passion, danger, and betrayal.

Secret Identities.
Extraordinary Powers.
She wants vengeance. He wants justice.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone...except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.  

Cannot wait for Marissa's next release! Eager for a new series from her! Even more excited to meet her (again) in November on tour! In my own city! Yay for a short commute!!

TITLE: Renegades

AUTHOR: Marissa Meyer

PUBLISHER: Feiwel and Friends
GENRE: Dystopian/Sci-Fi YA

RELEASE DATE: November 7, 2017

Review--The Rule of Mirrors by Caragh M. O'Brien

At the remote, exclusive Chimera Centre, families of coma patients come from all over the world seeking miracles. When Althea Flores wakes up from a six-month coma, her recovery defies the limits of hope and science—except she can’t remember anything about her own life. Instead, she has all the memories of Rosie Sinclair, the missing Forge Show star, and she’s pregnant.

Far from the Chimera Centre, in a secret vault, the sleeping body of Rosie Sinclair is captive to the doctors who mine her dreams. Heavily sedated, Rosie struggles to awaken and manipulate her keeper for a chance to escape. She knows what she’ll do once she’s free—wreak vengeance on Dean Berg, the man who stole her dreams and turned her life into a nightmare.

Told in alternating points of view between the girl who has Rosie’s consciousness in a new, pregnant body, and the girl whose shattered subconscious rules Rosie’s old body, the second installment of The Vault of Dreamers trilogy is an intricate, psychologically thrilling novel about layers of identity, what lies in the mirror, and the link between body and soul.

Diving back into a series is hard, especially when it’s been years since you’ve read the first book. Such was the case for me with The Rule of Mirrors, Caragh M. O’Brien’s second installment in The Vault of Dreamers trilogy. Though I couldn’t remember much about the series since there were no recaps available, I re-read my review and was able to get a simplistic idea of what had already happened. There was momentary bites of recaps within the story as well, though I couldn’t recall much, I was able to follow along fairly well with this story, yet there were still plenty of confusing moments, because sci-fi.

Rosie is being kept in a coma, hidden in a lab somewhere while Berg mines her dreams. She’s able to wake up sporadically thanks to a young tech in the lab who’s become smitten with her. It’s almost a creepy relationship developing but as we are in Rosie’s mind, it’s clear that she’s using him so she can try to break free.

Then the point of view changes within the next chapter and we are introduced to a new character named Althea. This is where things get a tad confusing since we are in her first person point of view, and she’s not really Althea, she’s Rosie. Rosie’s mind is somehow inside Althea. She has Rosie’s memories and virtually nothing of the girl called Althea. Althea has just awakened from a coma and to top it all off, she’s pregnant!

Soon the story gets told back and forth between Rosie and Althea. It was rather strange too, because for all intents and purposes Althea is a version of Rosie, yet the real Rosie is still out there. As Althea’s family tries to convince her of her identity and memories, she can’t help but want to get back to her Rosie life and help her friends and family.

It should be no surprise that Rosie eventually breaks free and is on the run and hiding. She doesn’t know where her friends are and finding people to trust is equally hard to find as well. But one thing she is sure about, Berg has to die!

This book was kind of insane! First off, I don’t recommend doing what I did, read the book as an ARC in early 2014 and then in late 2017 return to the finished series unless there’s time for a re-read! A series binge would be recommended because I will honestly say I was confused for quite a bit in trying to remember all what was happening in the first book. Then you add in that this takes place in the future and there’s all sorts of science and technology involved that just makes it a bit hard to get through at times. Like the “mining” of dreams. I can’t quite remember what that meant and though we get some explanation through example, it was still a bit offsetting.

And now I remember what I thought about the romance situation! And let’s face it, that love triangle that I thought wasn’t going to happen, yeah, that was wrong! Burnham gets involved again to help Rosie our and of course there’s Linus around too! So things are kind of messy in that area. I felt like things with Linus was a sure thing, not so much anymore!

I don’t want this review to come off as a warning against this series! I still find myself enjoying it despite bouts of confusion and memory issues. There’s still a very intriguing story happening here with plots of conspiracy, secret experiments, and a possible revenge plot going on as well. And the ending was yet another total shocker that will throw you through the loop! I am eager to see how things will be resolved with all that was going on!

The Rule of Mirrors is part chaos, part intrigue and still managed to keep me engaged with everything it has to offer! This is definitely a series that is meant to be binged properly and not read sporadically like I did it! If you love a good sci-fi read filled with a deeply seeded plot, then this is the read for you!


Overall Rating 3.75/5 stars—yup an awkward rating because while I did have some initial struggles, I still found myself totally into the story and was eager to see what would happen!

 

Let's Discuss: Movie Remakes

So it was as I was writing a blog post prompt last week that I discovered one of my all time favorite classic horror movies is in fact [gulp] being REMADE! And that movie is Creature from the Black Lagoon! It's a horror movie from 1954 and it's obviously more comical than scary, though back then, it was obviously meant to be scary! But a big rubber fishman suit hardly instills terror in a viewer such as myself when I first saw it! I was cracking up! I want to say I first saw it right before the Hugh Jackman movie, Van Helsing came out because I later got the DVD of all the Creature from the Black Lagoon movies! There were 2 sequels I believe...been awhile since I watched them. So behind on my movies!

But anyway onto my topic...

Movie Remakes

For the most part I haven't really endure too many "remakes" of my favorite movies. I guess the timing just hasn't been right. There have been unnecessary sequels of course. Ones that just don't hit the same level of awesomeness as the first one did. But remakes? Nope. Not really.

Then it really started to hit me sometime this year, probably in the summer. The Mummy was coming out in theaters. Granted, I REALLY need to see the original one with Boris Karloff, but I grew up on the Brendan Frasier ones and really liked them. When I saw Tom Cruise was going to be in a "new" version, I was kind of like really? No offense to Tom or Tom lovers, but I feel like he's kind of pushing it for being in this kind of movie to begin with. Plus, I was never really a fan of his in later years.

Naturally, that movie kind of bombed. And word is that Universal wants to "revamp" all the monster movies. And for awhile, I thought my beloved Creature from the Black Lagoon would be safe. Well, when I was doing that blog post and looking for a picture, I came across an article that instilled fear in me! A REMAKE was in the works for my beloved movie!! I mean the beauty of this movie is that yes it's hokey, but storywise it was kind of interesting (maybe just to me and my low-grade scary movie mind). I mean, a man like sea-creature...who then falls in love with a human girl he just happened to see? Reminds me of The Little Mermaid! Lol! In a dark and twisted sort of way!

To think of what they will do with this movie and all the horrible special effects fills me with dread. Seriously?! You're seriously going to do this?

I think I even heard somewhere, possibly in one of those articles that lists like 100 movies that are expected to be "remade" in the years to come! I was devastated to even seen Van Helsing on that list! I LOVED the Hugh Jackman one with Kate Beckinsale! It was awesome! Of course I cried at the end, and to this day I STILL remember my friend from high school spoiled it for me. I kept waiting for it to happen when things were getting intense and when it never did and just when I thought maybe he lied and a happy ending is really going to happen...BAM! Yeah, totally sideswiped me!

Then of course we have the "reboot"--note the term "reboot" of Jumanji. While I am still sadden to see yet another childhood movie getting redone, especially one of Robin Williams' classics, I find myself oddly curious about this revamping. Plus Dwayne Johnson! I mean come on, it's Dwayne Johnson! I will possibly give that one a try, as along as the reviews don't get to me first!

But wow, this turned more into a rant than I intended! But basically one of the things I dislike about "remakes" is that they lack originality. I mean come on! You're literally taking something that's been done and just "updating" it. I can see it as trying to relate to the new generation or giving them something to enjoy while people my age can "look fondly back at memories of the original and perhaps finding something to enjoy about this new version", but still...I'm feeling like, can't you just make something original yourselves?

Book to film adaptations are another thing entirely, which I've already done a spiel on that in a sense about ones I hate. Don't get me wrong, almost every booklover and author secretly wants to see the book made into a film version, but we readers, at least, also fear them ruining it. Hence my post from earlier this year and of course the mess that was the Allegiant movie. I truly expected better from that despite the animosity that surrounds the book--which I did really enjoy, ending and all!

But what about you guys, where do you stand on remakes of movies that have been done already? Do you like them, hate them? Feel a curiosity about them but also a deep seated loathing as well? 

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker.

Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.

To help set this scene a bit, a teenage girl has just woken from a coma and can't speak just yet. She also wakes to find that she is, in fact, very pregnant!

"'I can't help but wonder what she's thinking about,' Diego said.

I'm thinking about the sex I haven't had, I thought." p 38

TITLE: The Rule of Mirrors
AUTHOR: Caragh M. O'Brien
PUBLISHER: Roaring Brook Press
GENRE: Dystopian YA
RELEASE DATE: February 16, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

This week's topic is: Top Ten Unique Book Titles

*in no particular

**ironically, a lot of these titles are fitting for Halloween based on title alone! Though a few of them are actually kind of creepy reads so they're even more perfect!

10. THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNDEAD by Kim Harrison--I love her play on Clint Eastwood movie titles! 

9. THE SAVAGE DAWN by Melissa Grey--this one snags my attention because I never would've considered dawn "savage"! Usually dawn is the opposite!

8. BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA by April Genevieve Tucholke--one of the longest titles I've come across. The length is what makes it stand out to me! Plus the words themselves!

7. THE APPEARANCE OF ANNIE VAN SINDEREN by Katherine Howe--another one of those really long titles! I still want to read this one! The cover even sends a cold chill down my neck!

6. THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN by Holly Black--another one to read! I find I'm deeply intrigued by the title in a literal sense! Can't wait to see how accurate it will be!

5. SURVIVE THE NIGHT by Danielle Vega--this title alone invokes a bit of terror in me! I mean, why would you need to SURVIVE the night?! And it was a pretty creepy read! Reminded me of a pretty bad scary movie I saw once, oddly when I asked Danielle about, she said she never saw it! So I was like oookay! I can't remember the name of the movie now of course!

4. WHAT A GHOUL WANTS by Victoria Laurie--so now I hear Christina singing GHOUL instead of GIRL when I read this title! LOL!

3. SLASHER GIRLS AND MONSTER BOYS edited by April Genevieve Tucholke--this title invokes another kind of chill up my spine! And the artwork only furthers that chill! It makes you wonder what exactly is this book about--some seriously creepy short stories!!

2. STALKING JACK THE RIPPER by Kerri Maniscalco--since Jack the Ripper kind of "stalked" his victims, I thought this twist of the words really snags your attention!

1. WICKED EVER AFTER by Delilah S. Dawson--another one I STILL need to read, but come on! Why live HAPPILY ever after, when it can be WICKED?!

 

ARC Review--The Empress by S.J. Kincaid

It’s a new day in the Empire. Tyrus has ascended to the throne with Nemesis by his side and now they can find a new way forward—one where they don’t have to hide or scheme or kill. One where creatures like Nemesis will be given worth and recognition, where science and information can be shared with everyone and not just the elite.

But having power isn’t the same thing as keeping it, and change isn’t always welcome. The ruling class, the Grandiloquy, has held control over planets and systems for centuries—and they are plotting to stop this teenage Emperor and Nemesis, who is considered nothing more than a creature and certainly not worthy of being Empress.

Nemesis will protect Tyrus at any cost. He is the love of her life, and they are partners in this new beginning. But she cannot protect him by being the killing machine she once was. She will have to prove the humanity that she’s found inside herself to the whole Empire—or she and Tyrus may lose more than just the throne. But if proving her humanity means that she and Tyrus must do inhuman things, is the fight worth the cost of winning it?

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

The Empress is the highly anticipated sequel to S.J. Kincaid’s The Diabolic and what a whirlwind of read that was! It has the same high stakes and fast paced plot that will leave your head spinning by the end! I was once again a little befuddled with some of the worldviews, the space, the politics, all that new vocabulary. But as I was expecting it this time, it wasn’t as hard to get through.

Nemesis and Tyrus have their work cut out for them. Many of Tyrus’ subjects still oppose to having a Diabolic as an empress. She’s fights off numerous assassination attempts every week. The most pressing problem is their enemies and how relentless they are in their attempts to overthrow Tyrus’ reign. But Pasus has other plans in mind. Political intrigue takes over much of the plot in this one. Backstabbing and plotting are all over the place. Tyrus and Nemesis know they will need more help on their side if they ever hope to be rid of Pasus once and for all. So they leave to go find the Interdict and hope that he may grant Nemesis personhood in hopes of quelling the protests of a Diabolic married to the emperor.

Naturally, things don’t go as planned. There was a lot more going on in this one than we saw in the previous book, at least I thought so. And this one is even shorter than its predecessor! Yet it’s jam packed with so many twists and turns! Seriously, I feel as if I might have reader’s whiplash! But in a weird way, it was kind of thrilling!

True, I suffered from bouts of confusion again. We get deeper into the politics in this one. I have never been a fan of politics in any scope, so you can imagine how trying it was for me to get through some of these moments. Then add in some time-warp traveling or whatnot and you can pretty much color me confused in some parts of this one. Despite all that though, I did still really like this one. Outside of the politics portion, you once again have these amazing characters that you watch grown and change and totally surprise you in so many ways!

This book had its surprises too! Though I won’t get into that! But just know that the last quarter of the book or so was chock full of them! Every time I thought Kincaid had me shock, she would proceed to shock me further! It was unreal!

One thing I did notice that was missing was the romance between Tyrus and Nemesis. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not totally gone. But with all the chaos that surrounds them, finding time for a romantic interlude was a lot harder than you’d think! The stolen moments were sweet though. But I kind of missed “them” overall. It was like they hardly had time to be together together anymore. And yes, I meant the double phrase there! Spell check did not like that either!

I found that The Empress was a very character driven novel as was The Diabolic. While things may get overly complicated plot wise, I find I still love and hate these characters. I won’t get into where they all fall under. But they are still very real, very complicated people.

Reading The Empress totally spun my head all around! I have no idea what to expect next! Just when I thought I had things figured out, Kincaid surprises me once again! If you were a fan at all of The Diabolic, I highly recommend continuing the story! The wait for the next book very well might be disastrous! I’ll just let you think on that.


Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars—again with the minor takedown on rating. Still a GOOD read! Slightly better than good even! But all the politics and added time leaps kind of spun my head in the wrong direction. Not the good head spin I’ll tell you. Still it was a most fascinating read and I look forward to the conclusion!


The Empress releases October 31, 2017

 

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. It's a fun meme where we gather to share what we've read last week and our reading plans for this week.

Last Week I Read:

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas (4.5 stars)

Zero Repeat Forever by G.S. Prendergast (5 stars)

The Best Kind of Magic by Crystal Cestari (4 stars)

Currently Reading:

The Rule of Mirrors by Caragh M. O'Brien

What I Plan to Read this Week:

 The Keep of Ages by Caragh M. O'Brien

Other Posts of Interest:

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Waiting on Wednesday

Random Thursday

Book Blogger Hop 

Stacking the Shelves 

 

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! The meme is now hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality.


This was actually a rather calm week in the book world, at least for me! I had no new releases or preorders come in, but I did get a contest win of any book that was ever released in September from the 2017 Discussion Challenge!


My choice was:

 Black Bird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel

THANK YOU Nicole!!

And that was it for me! What did you all get?

Review--The Best Kind of Magic by Crystal Cestari

Amber Sand is not a witch. The Sand family Wicca gene somehow leapfrogged over her. But she did get one highly specific magical talent: she can see true love. As a matchmaker, Amber's pretty far down the sorcery food chain (even birthday party magicians rank higher), but after five seconds of eye contact, she can envision anyone's soul mate.

Amber works at her mother's magic shop--Windy City Magic--in downtown Chicago, and she's confident she's seen every kind of happy ending there is: except for one--her own. (The Fates are tricky jerks that way.) So when Charlie Blitzman, the mayor's son and most-desired boy in school, comes to her for help finding his father's missing girlfriend, she's distressed to find herself falling for him. Because while she can't see her own match, she can see his--and it's not Amber. How can she, an honest peddler of true love, pursue a boy she knows full well isn't her match?

The Best Kind of Magic is set in urban Chicago and will appeal to readers who long for magic in the real world. With a sharp-witted and sassy heroine, a quirky cast of mystical beings, and a heady dose of adventure, this novel will have you laughing out loud and questioning your belief in happy endings.

If you’re looking for a cute, quirky, and magical read then you will find just that in Crystal Cestari’s The Best Kind of Magic! I wasn’t too sure of this read at first, it didn’t exactly scream paranormal despite being filled with more than a few paranormal characters. I was really taken by surprise how much I was enjoying it! It’s a bit cheesy in some aspects, but come on, who doesn’t love cheese?!

Amber is the daughter of a very powerful witch, but sadly, magic seems to have skipped a generation. Instead of being a witch, Amber is a matchmaker, which is basically considered the bottom of the totem pole in the magical realm. By looking into your eyes, Amber is able to see who your true love is. She doesn’t generally know their names and whatnot, just sees their image. And of course, she’s not able to see her own future love.

Then one day, Charlie, the son of the mayor of Chicago comes to Amber with a problem. His father’s girlfriend and possibly-soon-to-be fiancée is missing. While he was never very fond of her himself, he mostly wants Amber to help him find her and get her to stay away from his dad. He thinks she’s just a gold-digger and doesn’t really love his father. Naturally, when Amber sees the mayor—who also happens to be her mother’s childhood friend—she sees who he’s meant to be with and when she sees a picture of Cassandra (the missing girlfriend) she knows it’s not her.

Soon the two begin the search for Cassandra, though Charlie would rather she stay gone. And all the while, a friendship starts to form between Amber and Charlie. They didn’t really grow up together beyond the early years despite their parents’ friendship. And naturally, soon something more begins to develop. Though Amber has seen who Charlie will end up with, and it’s not her. She isn’t sure if she should let herself feel for Charlie because she knows it won’t end happily ever after for them. She’s never been wrong before with her matchmaking skills, but she wishes she could be just once.

This was such a cute little read! I can’t believe I’m calling it cute even. I truly thought I wouldn’t like this one as much as I did! When people categorize a book as “magical realism” I always get conflicting thoughts, wondering if it will be more magical or more contemporary like. It’s a phrase that truly confuses me to say the least! Lol! I mean, it is pretty contradictory! But Chicago is like any other version of Chicago I’ve read, there are supernatural beings living among us, we just don’t realize it! So naturally, in this world, the supernaturals haven’t quite come out of the closet yet, but there’s possible stirrings of more things to come…unless I’m totally making something from nothing!

The mystery wasn’t as strong in this one as I would’ve thought. When you learn that “the missing” isn’t really the best of people, you start to make some theories on that and when you’re proven somewhat right, it becomes obvious why this wasn’t as drawn out. Cassandra wasn’t really much of a player in this story for that matter either. I mean we get some details on her and whatnot, but I feel like she’s just a fleeting character at this point!

The other characters though were far more intriguing! There’s Amani, who is Amber’s best friend and a precog, meaning she can see the future. She’s truly the best of friends too, for there are students who are just downright snotty to her and Amber, and Amani lets them verbally have it! I love this girl! Then of course we have Charlie, who’s just plain old human without any powers and he gets introduced to the magical world living right beside him. It was kind of amazing how open he was. I liked that he was the boy the next door type of sweetness!

The romance was a little hard for me to get into. I understood Amber’s struggles. She knows who Charlie is meant to be with and pursuing a relationship is bound to end in heartbreak. Her powers don’t let her know exactly when Charlie will meet his One True Love, she just sees their Happily Ever After. But yet at the same time, I can’t help but root for Amber to go for it! She deserves happiness as well as all her clients.

The Best Kind of Magic was a sweet and magical read! The added embellishments of supernatural beings in the story were a most divine addition! Things end with a kind of calm and you think there just might be some happy endings all around. But Crystal has added in some little hints to bigger question, bigger possibilities that haven’t quite been addressed yet. I cannot wait to see what the next installment will entail for this is a series I will definitely be sticking with!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars

 

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addict! 

 

 

 This week's question is: Off the book topic - What is your favorite scary movie? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

 

 

 

MY ANSWER: Oohh...I don't do scary movies! Lol! They are the things that give me nightmares! I saw a Freddy Kruger movie when I was wayyyyy too young because someone wasn't being a responsible adult. 

But yeah. Nope. Don't do those!

I will say though, that I do enjoy the classic horror movies! ie: The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula, The Wolfman...all those black and white movies! I like those, mostly because they are more comical than anything!

Random Thursday

Here are a few more random questions answered from Disney Facts Revealed: Answers to Fans' Curious Questions by Dave Smith! Next week we'll move into questions regarding Disneyland!

(image borrowed from Pintrest)

Apparently in Tokyo Disney Resort, there was merchandise that was basically of a married Mickey and Minnie Mouse. It was only ever sold in Tokyo, for apparently in the US Disney doesn't acknowledge that they are "married", probably just "dating". Though this picture of a pin I found makes me wonder where it came from! And there have been other sculpture like things that have a married Mickey and Minnie. So again, not sure how accurate this is.

(image borrowed from Daily Motion)

The animated short Get a Horse!? from 2013 is reminiscent of the the older cartoons from the beginning stages of Mickey Mouse. Apparently when cars first started coming out, they were a little more faulty and prone to breaking down. Farmers would ride by on the horses and tell them to "Get a horse!" since obviously a horse can't break down (in theory). And since this cartoon has Mickey and his horse, Horace, facing down Pete in his car, it was an apt title!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review--Zero Repeat Forever by G.S. Prendergast

He has no voice, or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn’t know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind.

Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall.

His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting.

Until a human kills her…

Sixteen year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade, annihilating entire cities, taking control of the Earth. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her friends have only a fragment of instruction from the human resistance.

Shelter in place.

Which seems like good advice at first. Stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn’t like feeling helpless but what choice does she have?

Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend.

Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival depends on trusting each other…

Holy. Cow. Zero Repeat Forever is a book that will take an effect on your feelings! It was one of the most impactful books I’ve read in a while! G.S. Prendergast really knows how to tell a marvelous and engaging tale! This one will grip you tight and not let go until its very end and all I can say is that I need a sequel asap!

This book is being likened to The 5th Wave and I totally see it now. Here we will follow Raven and Eighth. Raven is our human girl who gets caught up in a War of the Worlds type battle with her remaining friends and the aliens that have invaded their world. Though we never really use the term alien, but Nahx which was coined by a Russian gamer, so what it actually means I have no idea! These Nahx have come to Earth and are firing darts at people that essentially kill them, causing their blood to run a grayish color. Raven has just lost her boyfriend to one of these Nahx and their darts and is grieving, she vows to find the Nahx that killed him and return the favor.

Then we have who we know as Eighth and it becomes clear that he is one of these Nahx. The Nahx had always traveled in pairs and his “partner” was recently killed. Eighth is not quite normal when it comes to Nahx for when a chance encounter with Raven leaves her perfectly alive, well we know there’s just something different about this Nahx guy.

Raven and her friends are just trying to survive. Raven would like to try to find her parents who had been going on a vacation along the coast, there’s a chance they might be alive. But the group of camp counselors she was training with for a summer camp before all hell broke loose, decide it might be better to try to find more survivors and band together.

Then Raven gets seriously hurt and her rescuer turns out to be none other than Eighth. And this is when things start to take a turn. Whatever it’s for better or worse will soon be revealed.

Just wow. This book! I was not expecting to be so captivated by it! But pretty much from the moment I started it, I couldn’t put it down. The words were just flowing off the pages as I read and I soon found myself crossing beyond the halfway point in the first day and this is a 483 page book!

The relationship between Raven and Eighth was so complex. While all the other Nahx are firing these darts at humans with no prejudice on who that human is, Eighth doesn’t really want to dart anyone. True, he may have darted some before he crossed paths with Raven, but from the moment he first met her, saw her, he no longer wanted to continue his mission.

It’s hard to say whether this was something like romance or Stockholm Syndrome. While it seemed like Eighth might have been developing feelings he didn’t understand for Raven, Raven wasn’t necessarily falling head over heels for Eighth. In fact there were times when she flat out hated him. Then there were times when she thought she almost understood him. It was a tremulous bond that was forming between these two. I think it was almost sweeter that it wasn’t a more traditional romance.

The Nahx are all suited up while on Earth. Their body armor covers them from head to foot, so you really don’t even know who might be male or female or if they even have genders. They do apparently have genders and Eighth is a boy. His thought processes were a bit confusing…if that makes sense. He seemed to be somewhat intelligent, yet he was considered a failure as a Nahx and he’s not human, but he has very human ways of thinking. It was definitely an interesting piece of the puzzle that was the Nahx.

The ending…oh boy that ending! While I am in a fit of emotions as I’m reading the last two chapters, a lot of startling things come to fore. And then…my mind was blown! There are still many pertinent questions to be answered and I am leaning towards the idea that this might be a duology. There’s nothing online that I can find that verifies this, so it will be a mess of emotions as I await something concrete! But yes, this was basically one of the most amazing and incredible books I’ve read this year! If you’re looking for a story filled with adventure, suspense, a story that will leave you breathless, then be sure to pick up a copy of Zero Repeat Forever! This book is pure magic!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars 

 

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blog post by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights releases we're eagerly awaiting.

In the first book of the Shaw Confessions, the companion series to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer novels, old skeletons are laid bare and new promises prove deadly. This is what happens after happily ever after.

Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string.

They’re wrong.

Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future.

He shouldn’t.

And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart.

They’re right.  

While I may have already read this one, I still can't wait to own my finished copy! Though I REALLY wish I would've had time for a series re-read!

TITLE: The Becoming of Noah Shaw

AUTHOR: Michelle Hodkin

PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

GENRE: Mystery YA--still not sure what we categorized this as! It's definitely mysterious!
RELEASE DATE: November 7, 2017

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker.

Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.

"Depending on who you ask, Josephine Leeds is still here, walking up and down Sparrow Hill, her white nightdress bloody and filthy at the hem. People call her the Red Woman, and they say she can only be spotted at night.

That's why we're here. To see for ourselves." p 10

 


TITLE: Little Monsters
AUTHOR: Kara Thomas
PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press
GENRE: Thriller YA
RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2017

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

This week's topic is: Top Ten Yummy Foods Mentioned in Books

*in no particular order 

**also note, I sooooo cannot remember the food mentioned in books! I literally came up with three exact answers, the rest are just general foods that make me hungry when they're mentioned in books no matter what time I'm reading said book! LOL!

***OMG, writing this post before dinner was sooo not a good idea, because I'm starving halfway through these items!

10. CHOCOLATE FROGS, CAULDRON CAKES, BUTTERBEER...the list goes on and on--basically all the delicious treats mentioned in Harry Potter get my mouth watering! Luckily with my trip to Harry Potter World last year, I was able to finally truly experience some of them!

9. CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES--who could forget when Daemon had a cookie in his mouth to offer Katy? And please forgive me if I picked the "wrong" cover, I had a mind blank when it came to which book precisely this happened in!

8. LICORICE--I admit, I like licorice! Twizzlers is the only strawberry flavored one I eat, but when it comes to rope, I prefer cherry! I'm just weird like that!

7. PIZZA--I love pizza! So if the characters are eating it, I'm usually craving it!

6. PASTA--you'd think I was Italian or something with all my love of their foods, but nope! 

5. BREAD--the good kind, like French bread! Nice and crusty on the outside, warm and chewy on the inside! I could just eat bread and butter for dinner!

4. CHIPS AND SALSA--love me some chips and salsa! I know there have been books where the characters go to a Mexican restaurant and start eating these...which usually is in an adult book.

3. MILKSHAKES--honestly can't remember the last book that had one of these, but yeah I love a good milkshake!

2. PB&J--another one I can't remember when I last read about! Possibly peanut butter sandwiches and I'm thinking to the character, you forgot the jelly!!

1. REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS--have these been in a book? I really can't recall, but including it here for candy's sake!