A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab

Magical and exciting! Another winner from Victoria Schwab.

Imagine if you had magic: the ability to travel from one parallel universe to the next. Pretty awesome, right? 

Welcome to Kell's everyday life.
At first a slow start, I found myself soon wrapped up in Kell's plight. His troubles begin with his irresistible urge to collect items from the other Londons that he visits. Tricked into smuggling over an extremely dangerous magical item, Kell must rise to the face the consequences or risk losing his London, as well as the others.

Schwab gave great details and emotional connections in this book that helped bring the different worlds to life. I could almost feel the dustiness of Grey London, the chill of White London, and the glow of the Red London. It was fascinating to know that each was connected, but became unconnected when Black London became corrupted and devoured by it's magic. Each character was unique, strong, and brave in their own way, but Schwab built powerful connections. I simply loved Kell and Lilah. Lilah is so headstrong and spunky, it's hard not to like her! I was easily ensnared, with the strength and connection of them, and there were plenty of things left open to amp up excitement for the next book.

Lauren - 4 stars  

Shit is going down!! Feb 2016! 

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

4 stars

A unique and powerful read! It truly delves into the darker sides of children.

Bracken absolutely tore my heart out with this book and yet I longed for more! In a dystopian twist where children become monsters, tools of war, and runaways, Ruby is a wolf among sheep biding her time before the inevitable happens. 

A disease strikes the children of the world, either rendering them dead, or gifted with unique powers. Struggling to keep everyone from panicking, the government sets up camps where they promise parents to help make their unique children "better" and to find a cure. These children are classified by colors based up their danger to others.

 Just imagine how powerful Ruby is when she has the abilities of an orange and the highest ranking power is red. But sweet and naieve Ruby does not long to use her powers against others, in fact she is scared of them and the consequences, to the point of manipulating the man registering the children into thinking she wields a less lethal ability, and is classified as a green. She must learn to adapt though, as she later escapes her horrible and abusive camp, and joins up with a group of children also on the run not only from the camps, but from bounty hunters. It's only with these lovable characters, Liam, Zu, and Chubs, that Ruby truly blossoms and cracks open her hard outer shell.

Alas, times are tough, and Ruby is wanted by many but the on the run feeling of the book was exciting, thrilling, and interesting. Bracken writes a great high paced dystopian that leaves you with the urge to weep or tear out your hair in the end. (Trust me, it's still amazing.) 

(my review of the sequel, Never Fade)

Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

3 stars

Loved the cover, its really eye catching and entrancing.

A fun action packed book that leaves you longing for the next change...

I've got to say I've been on a badass heroine streak and love it. With this story I was not disappointed with our heroine Kali; an average teenager every other day. But when she isn't simply human, she is a bloodthirsty hunter, seeking to sink her knives into supernatural baddies!

Her life takes an even bigger turn for the interesting when she sees the mark of the Chupacabra on a popular girl at school and has decided to save her no matter the cost.

Though Kali isn't exactly social, she warms up to most of the characters we're introduced to, and its quite a variety. Through Kali's eyes, the world of the usual bump-in-the-night creature genre is given a unique twist. Especially so when readers learn of a company with evil intention involving Kali, humans, creatures, and a certain somebody else.

It's what makes this book so fun, since things aren't what they seem! I really appreciated that while our popular girl did fit the usual bill of teenage snot, once Kali got past the facde there was someone truly lovable underneath. I did feel a little confused after some mysteries were revealed for example what exactly Kali was before things began to change was left...cloudy. Also a certain character death left me with a big angry question mark above my head. I felt the death was random and highly unnecessary, plus the ending felt slightly vague. 

These were my only complaints since the book was otherwise so good, I could not put it down. Great for a light, action read!

Written In Red by Anne Bishop

5 stars

What a knockout! 

This was amazing, I'm ashamed I put it off for so long. 

(I blame the weak book cover.)

I've got to say I'm not usually one for werewolf stories but oh, this was so much more.

Readers are introduced to a world where humans are second in command and the supernatural run the roost. Tension is high but our focus is on a different town where the wolves and other creatures that dwell within the closed off park, try to live in peace with humans.

The leader of the pack is Simon Wolfgard a temperamental and fierce wolf who runs the human friendly bookstore called Howling Good Reads. He is definitely more animal than human as are most of the park members which is proven as they will consume any adult trespassers. But Simon finds it somewhere in his heart to take in the naive and gentle Meg Corbyn, who is a runaway prophet who longs to start a new life that isn't controlled by the organization that owns her as well as the others of her kind.  

She takes on the job of liason and spurs our story into action. The character and world building done by the author is simply astounding. I was easily sucked up into this new world, and was helpless but to turn the next page. You become easily attached to everyone, and I simply adored how easily Meg won people's hearts, even the most difficult.

Her bond with Simon's scarred nephew is especially heartwarming as she withdraws him slowly from his shell. Her relationship with Simon is very special and has been progressive but not instantaneous which was actually quite nice!  It has left me excited to see how they progress in the sequel.