RED QUEEN

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.  

The Assassin Game

                                  

Who will be left after lights out?

Tag, you’re it…

It’s 4:00 a.m. when they come for me. I am already awake, strung out on the fear that they will come, and the fear that they won’t. When I finally hear the click of the latch on the dormitory door, I have only a second to brace myself before—

At Cate's isolated boarding school, Killer is more than a game—it’s an elite secret society. Members must avoid being “Killed” during a series of thrilling pranks, and only the Game Master knows who the “Killer” is. When Cate’s finally invited to join the Assassins’ Guild, she know it’s her ticket to finally feeling like she belongs.

But when the game becomes all too real, the school threatens to shut it down. Cate will do anything to keep playing and save the Guild. But can she find the real assassin before she’s the next target?

GOODREADS | AUTHOR 

Nearly Gone

He revved the engine and I held tight with both hands as the bike lurched forward, We zoomed down streets, leaning into the curves, wind whipping over me. I pressed into his back until all I could smell was the leather tang of his jacket, and all I could taste was the sweet thrill of flying away.

Keeping secrets is second nature to Nearly Boswell. Living in a trailer park outside Washington, DC, with a mom who works as an exotic dancer, she knows better than to share anything that would make her a target with her classmates. Only her best friends know about her obsession with the personal ads, and Nearly hasn't told anyone about the emotions she can taste when she brushes against someone's skin.

Then a serial killer goes on a murder spree and starts attacking students, leaving cryptic ads in the newspaper. Nearly might be the one person who can put all the clues together, and if she doesn't figure it out soon - she'll be next.

Big, dark, scary, and brilliantly plotted, Nearly Gone will leave you guessing until the very end.

GOODREADS | AUTHOR 

Between work and school I was struggling to make time to read. I am ashamed to admit that I picked up this book for all the wrong reasons: falling madly in love with the cover. I know I know, don't judge a book by its cover.

At the time, I was looking for contemporary romance with happy endings. My soon-to-be Beauty and The Beast bookshelf was packed with TBR mystery. But I just LOVE a mystery thriller done right!

Nearly Gone tells a story of a girl named Nearly, an extremely bright person who lives in a trailer park in the Washington D.C. area. She lives alone with her mother who’s a stripper and her father left them when she was younger. She also has this strange unexplained ability to "taste" people's emotions when she touches them. So that's where the paranormal in the story comes in.

Growing up, she developed a fascination for the Personal Ads in the newspaper because she thought her dad had posted in it once to let her know he was okay and ever since then she's been hoping to hear from him again. But instead she starts seeing these ads that look more like an equation and she needs to figure them out one by one.

Now I know you’re probably wondering where’s the mystery in this book. Well, there just so happens to be a serial killer leaving clues for Nearly in the personal ads and using people in her class as the victims. 

“I hope you’re worth it.”

I really enjoyed this book, and with my busy schedule I was able to read it within two days tops. It was a fast paced well-written story and I enjoyed trying to figure out who the killer was. My favorite thing about this book was definitely the characters in the story. We're introduced to a lot of secondary characters that Nearly knows through her trailer park and at school and all the characters have an outwardly sinister side to themselves where you know, as a reader, you can't completely trust them. And of course, there’s romance.

Reece Whelan is the bad boy that every parent tries to keep their daughter away from. However, to me he's just a guy that made some bad decisions and he's trying to make up for them. Part of his parole is that he has to get close to Nearly to help the cops figure out if she’s the killer or not. But of course things don't go as planned and they start developing feelings for each other. *Swoons*

He leaned in slowly, tilting his head to brush his lips against mine. Every rule, every shred of hesitation I'd felt before, dissolved away. I wanted him, every part of him, and we could mess with the outcome later.

This book seriously leaves you guessing till the very end. No one is who you think they are. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a quick mystery read.

xo

The Sound: Review

When aspiring music journalist Ren Kingston takes a job nannying for a wealthy family on the exclusive island of Nantucket, playground for Boston's elite, she's hoping for a low-key summer reading books and blogging about bands. Boys are firmly off the agenda.

What she doesn't count on is falling in with a bunch of party-loving private school kids who are hiding some dark secrets, falling (possibly) in love with the local bad boy, and falling out with a dangerous serial killer...

The gripping new stand-alone novel from the author of Hunting Lila. Out August 2013

                

                 

“I’m running, running blind. Into the dark. Into the woods. Ricocheting off branches, tripping over tangled tree roots, gripping on my arm as I stumble on, sobbing. Are those his footsteps coming after me or is it the wind? A bird? An animal?”

After suffering from severe readers block for over a year, this is one book that I was actually able to read and finish. Most books I’ve picked up over the months I'd put them down after the first three pages. But not this one. If I told you I didn’t enjoy this book despite all of the things wrong with it, I'd be lying.

I'm the kind of person that doesn't bother going on Goodreads to read reviews because I feel like that would change my perspective and I’d enjoy it less. However, I did read some reviews and I was shocked (or not) at the amount of 1 stars it received because when I started reading this, I was hooked from the start. 

But I’m not going to sit here and write a review based on how perfect this book was. Because it wasn’t. 

The Sound is based on Ren, a nanny who travels from the UK to Nantucket to nanny for a wealthy family for the summer. Everything seems perfect. She falls in with a group of rich kids, she has a cute wealthy boyfriend and she’s making money. Except that everything isn’t perfect and Nantucket has a killer. A nanny serial killer that murders foreign nannies.

This book was everything I would want in a book. It had mystery, a love triangle, and it was hilarious. I’m not a fan of love triangles, but the way Sarah created this one made it perfect.

This isn’t your ultimate ‘girl falls in love with bad boy’ book. Don't get me wrong; Jesse was to die for, what bad boy isn’t? But it wasn't like Ren fell in love with him over night. That love took time in this well-paced book. It definitely wasn't a twilight love story, Alderson made that perfectly clear:

Also, unlike Edward Cullen, the voice in my head pipes up, Jesse most certainly hasn’t fallen in insta-love with me and isn’t torturing himself over the fact that he can’t be with me in case he eats me.

Ouch.

There were a few things I didn't like in this book. Most of them were stereotypes based on American girls. For example:

“Like, what are you doing?”

“Like, I’m renting a bike,” I answer. I’m still vaguely amused by the overuse of the word like. I thought it was something that Hollywood scriptwriters used to emphasize vacuity in female characters. Turns out that’s actually the way Sophie speaks.

Don't get me wrong; I understand we sometimes, like, use the word like to the point we like, over use it. But I’m not like, comfortable with characters from the U.K using cliché stereotypes just to like, prove a point.

And I can’t forget the CAAARBSSSS! Ren made it seem like CARBS were sent from hell. But SO WHAT?

Besides all of the stereotypes this book was everything I would hope for in a contemporary mystery book. It was fast paced, the love triangle and falling in love wasn't outdated and cliché, and the mystery had enough twists and turns to keep me flipping the page.

Currently Reading

A fast-paced international escapade, laced with adrenaline, glamour, and romance--perfect for fans of Ally Carter

Avery West's newfound family can shut down Prada when they want to shop in peace, and can just as easily order a bombing when they want to start a war. Part of a powerful and dangerous secret society called the Circle, they believe Avery is the key to an ancient prophecy. Some want to use her as a pawn. Some want her dead.

To unravel the mystery putting her life in danger, Avery must follow a trail of clues from the monuments of Paris to the back alleys of Istanbul with two boys who work for the Circle—beautiful, volatile Stellan and mysterious, magnetic Jack. But as the clues expose a stunning conspiracy that might plunge the world into World War 3, she discovers that both boys are hiding secrets of their own. Now she will have to choose not only between freedom and family--but between the boy who might help her save the world, and the one she's falling in love with. 

Taken from Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17134589-the-conspiracy-of-us