The 100 by Kass Morgan - Book Review

No one has set foot on Earth in centuries -- until now.

Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth's radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents -- considered expendable by society -- are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life...or it could be a suicide mission.

CLARKE was arrested for treason, though she's haunted by the memory of what she really did. WELLS, the chancellor's son, came to Earth for the girl he loves -- but will she ever forgive him? Reckless BELLAMY fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And GLASS managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth.

Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind's last hope.

“That was the thing about secrets-you had to carry them with you forever, no matter what the cost.” 

Yay for finishing my first book of the year. It's been five days since the new year began, and only now am I getting the chance to catch up on my reading. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself for not taking too long, although at the rate that I took to finish this, I did take longer than I really wanted. So at least I got that out of the way.

Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting through this book. I thought that since I like the TV show I would at least enjoy the book somewhat, but then I remember how I felt when I was reading The Vampire Diaries after falling in love with the show years before.

Yeah... same situation.

Really the only reason why I finished this book was because I just wanted it to be over. There were very few parts of the book that I actually enjoyed, but it wasn't enough to keep me interested or read the rest of the series. Granted, the plot twist at the end was exactly what I was expecting, and had I liked the book, I would have been very quick to pick up the next book or at least finish it.

The premise of the book was great. To think that people have been living in space for the past 300 years or so after humans end up destroying Earth in a nuclear war is something that could easily happen with the way things are going right now. This book would have been the perfect way to delve deeper into that world and see what would happen if humans found a way to go back to Earth after all those years.

Honestly, I really wanted to see that play out, and I was really hoping that it would be a really good book. But unfortunately, it just didn't catch my interest as much as it should have. Keep in mind, this is only the first book of the series, and maybe it was Morgan's intention to keep it that way so as not to give too much away in the first book. But if the first book isn't enough to keep me interested, then what would make me want to go on to the rest of the series?

Watch the TV show. The action is better, the story is more exciting, the characters are people you actually want to root for. Well, except for Clarke. For some reason, I just don't like her in either outlet. Sorry.

Rated: 3/5 ★

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - Book Review

Alina Starkov doesn't expect much from life. Orphaned by the Border Wars, she is sure of only one thing: her best friend, Mal--and her inconvenient crush on him. Until the day their army regiment enters the Fold, a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. When their convoy is attacked and Mal is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power not even she knew existed.

Ripped from everything she knows, Alina is taken to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. With Alina's extraordinary power in his arsenal, he believes they can finally destory the Fold. Now Alina must find a way to master her untamed gift and somehow fit into her new life without Mal by her side. But nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. As the threat to the kingdom mounts and her dangerous attraction to the Darkling grows, Alina will uncover a secret that could tear her heart--and her country--in two.

“I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I'd catch myself just walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I'd seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I'd realize that you weren't there anymore, and every time,every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I've risked my life for you. I've walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I'd do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don't tell me why we don't belong together," he said fiercely.”

This book...

This book has been on my TBR list since it first came out. It was initially published back in 2012, and only now, at the very end of 2016 did I get a chance to finally read it. This is actually the case with a lot of other books that I have been meaning to read for years and just never got the chance to. Whether it was because I could never find a copy of the book to buy or borrow, or too many books that I wanted to read came out around the same time and I ended up forgetting about them until the next time I saw it again. Either way, I'm just glad that I was able to finally get my hands on the entire series and start with the first book.

One of the first things that I noticed when I was reading this book was the Russian influence in it. Granted, when I really felt like I was in some sort of alternate universe Russia, I took some time to read one of the reviews on GoodReads where it basically said that Bardugo didn't do her proper research on Russian culture and messed up on some things throughout her book. If you want to read more about it, just let me know, or a quick search on GoodReads under the review section of this book, and I'm sure you will find it the same way that I did. Either way, since I read any bonus material until after I finished the book, it was at least nice to have it confirmed that I wasn't going crazy, and that the reason why I felt like I was in some sort of Russian world was because Bardugo made it that way. If you haven't read it before, the moment you look at the map, you'll see what I mean.

Anyway.

This was definitely an exciting book for me to end the year with. Honestly, I don't even want to read another book until the new year starts so that I can end 2016 with a really good story. It was one of the books that I just could not put down, and I really wish that I could have started this book sooner. Years sooner.

To start, Alina and Mal are both orphans, who grew up together under the care of a rich Duke that liked to adopt other orphans. I honestly don't know if it was a play to be popular among the people, or if he genuinely didn't want any of these orphans to grow up alone. It wasn't like they didn't have to earn their keep. They were working along with the rest of the house servants, as if he was just adding to his personal work force but didn't have to give them money. I still can't tell, especially when Alina ends up seeing him again sometime later. Well, Alina and Mal end up growing up together and end up serving in the First Army together, with Mal being an excellent tracker and Alina being a somewhat good cartographer. Well, their unit was sent to cross into the Shadow Fold, this extremely dark curse on the land that is filled with man eating creatures named volcra. Mostly anyone who has tried to cross the Fold winds up torn to pieces.

So when Alina and Mal are forced to cross over with members of the First and Second Army, it should come as no surprise when they get attacked and almost die. In fact, they would have died if it wasn't for Alina, and that's where the story really begins.

The Darkling, such a mysterious character that you don't know whether to trust or run away from, ends up taking Alina under his wing, trying to make her stronger so that she can save her war torn country and bring peace to the lands. But is that really what his end goal is? His beautiful eyes and merciless behavior both draws people in and keeps them at bay. Even Alina can't seem to resist his pull, and a part of her wants to be by his side, almost like the Darkling's queen. With the Darkling as the most powerful Grisha in existence and Alina... well on the verge of becoming something great, there really wouldn't be anything to stop them. But are they good or bad?

Will they save the world, or destroy it?

The different twists in this book had me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't put this book down except to go to sleep and go to work. It was amazing. The world was one that I could really see in my mind, and Alina and Mal are two of my favorite characters in the entire book. I also liked another character, Genya, which if you're someone like me, you'd like her too. I can't wait to continue this series. My review probably didn't sound like much of a review, but trust me when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed this ride.

Rated: 5/5 ★

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne - Book Review

The Eighth Story. Nineteen Years Later.

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016. 

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

"How many people have died for The Boy Who Lived?"

It's been years since we last saw Harry Potter and the Golden Trio, and they had saved the world from the likes of Lord Voldemort. They won the Battle of Hogwarts, even though there were those that didn't survive the attack. And nineteen years after that final battle, after Voldemort was finally defeated, we see the future where Harry and Ginny are taking their kids to Platform 9 3/4, their son Albus Severus Potter's first year of being a student. But what happened afterwards? Was all truly well like Rowling promised it would be? This original play says different, and with it being Harry Potter, we all should have known better.

When I first found out that there was going to be another book about Harry Potter, I was in shock. I swore that Rowling was done writing about him, and that she would be going into other aspects of the Wizarding World (like Fantastic Beasts for example). Then I found out more information and was a little disappointed to find out that it was necessarily a new book, but a play. A play that I would never get to see because I wouldn't have the means to see it. Would it have the same magical effect that the rest of the series had on me all those years ago? I wasn't sure, which was probably why it took me a few months to actually get the book, let alone read it.

The premise is basically what we remember from the epilogue of Deathly Hallows. We start on Platform 9 3/4, with Harry and Ginny taking their oldest son James, and their youngest son Albus to the Hogwarts Express, with daughter Lily in tow. It's Albus' first year and he's afraid that he will be sorted into Slytherin because his big brother James has pretty much put that fear into his head that it would be bad to end up in that house. I guess 20 years hasn't changed kids' perspectives on Slytherin. Harry basically tells him that he was named after a Slytherin (Severus Snape), and he was one of the bravest men he knew. So if he was sorted into Slytherin it wouldn't be so bad.

Of course, Hermione and Ron are there as well, with their daughter Rose and son Hugo (who isn't really mentioned much, not sure why) also going to Hogwarts. We see Hermione in her daughter a lot, even to the point that Rose doesn't think that Albus should make friends with Scorpius Malfoy, all because of who his family is and the rumors about who his real father is. Cruel, I would say, to think that Hermione's daughter would show such prejudice to someone who can't help who he comes from. And with that, Albus and Scorpius becomes the best of friends and Rose and Albus aren't even friends, just cousins that keep up appearances for their parents' sake.

There were a few issues that I had with this book, mostly because it just wasn't the same as what I was expecting. I definitely wasn't expecting the bad guy being... well who the bad guy ended up being. Also, messing with the timeline always makes this worse, and the alternate reality that Scorpius ends up going to just made my heart hurt. Imagine if it was what really happened? I couldn't take it. I'm glad that it was just an alternate universe, let's just say that right here and now. Also, Albus was a jerk. Definitely not worth being named after Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. Scorpious was an actual sweetheart, and I think we needed to see more of him.

I liked seeing the original gang throughout the book, but it also showed me that Harry and Ron hasn't grown up as much as I thought they would, and why did they make Ron seem so dumb? Or silly? He's not just a comic relief, even if he wasn't the best at spells like Hermione was. He did have some substance to him throughout the series so why not bring that into this book? It just wasn't the same for me, and I usually love Harry Potter.

Rated: 3.5/5 ★

Heartless by Marissa Meyer - Book Review

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But for her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be a queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the King's marriage proposal, she meets handsome and mysterious Jest. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into a secret courtship.

Cath is determined to choose her own destiny. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

“The easiest way to steal something, is for it to be given willingly.”

Origin stories have always been stories that I am fascinated by. Especially if it's a new take on the specific villain that the story is based on. I believe this is the first book that I have come across that dealt with The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, and I'm so glad that I was able to have the opportunity to read this, thanks to my Owlcrate subscription. What was it about the Queen of Hearts that made her such a horrid person? And why was she so obsessed with decapitating everyone that got on her bad side? This book did an excellent job delving into that story, as well as incorporating elements of the original Alice in Wonderland into this original piece.

Let's start with Catherine, or as her friends like to call her: Cath. Loving the nickname, although it reminds me of Cather in Fangirl since Cath was her nickname as well. The image that I got of her was that she was probably a little bigger than most of the women in Hearts because she liked to bake so much. But I also feel like the only reason why she was probably bigger in my mind than I anticipated was because of the constant jabs from her mother and how she would have food taken away from her mid-meal or straight up not allowed to eat at all on certain occasions. Cath's mother, the Marchioness of Rock Turtle Cove was a real piece of work, and I definitely did not like her at all. If there was anyone truly mad in this book, it had to have been her.

Then there's the amazing Jest, who I have added to my never-ending list of fictional boyfriends. The first time we meet him, he has a sway over the citizens of Hearts with his riddle and magic tricks. Even Cath can't seem to keep her eyes off him, and is curious to find out who he is and where he's from. With the Kingdom of Hearts being small enough that everyone knows everyone, a stranger that nobody has seen before is always going to be the talk of the town, Jest being no exception. My heart beats for Jest, and apparently so does Cath's.

This isn't just a love story though, definitely not. There is love involved, between Cath and Jest, two strangers that seem to have some sort of attraction between them. But there's also a real danger out there in Hearts, in the form of the Jabberwock. It's been many years since a Jabberwock has been seen in Hearts, and if the entire kingdom hadn't seen one in front of them with their very own eyes, they probably would have been find pretending that it was just a silly rumor and forget it ever happened. But no, the Jabberwock is real, and threatens the lives of everyone in Hearts if someone doesn't do anything to stop it.

You would think that the King of Hearts would do something, but don't expect it to happen. Like we've seen of him in Alice in Wonderland, he's a kind-hearted fool, one who would rather have parties and eat treats than actually defend his kingdom and its citizens. That was a complete turn off for me, although I should have known based on the previous versions of him that we've seen. No wonder he's still not married, but who does he have his eyes on? The one and only Cath, probably because he knows that she's the best baker in all the land. Everyone knows it, and to think if he made her Queen, she could make him treats all the time! That was probably what he was thinking when he wanted to propose to her, because there was nothing that Cath did to make it even remotely a question that she liked him romantically. Either that or he's just an idiot. I still don't know which one is more true.

The world of Hearts is one that we have seen before, with talking animals that have human like qualities, special food and drinks that have the capability to change you into something else, and magic. It's the norm in Hearts, and while some of it is fun, others certainly aren't. Some of it is actually quite painful, and dangerous. It is Wonderland, after all. What did you expect?

While I won't spoil the story, we all know that it was bound to have a terrible ending. Terrible in this case meaning that Cath was going to be the vicious Queen of Hearts that we grew up knowing her as. And to think that she started off as someone with such passion about something other than beheading, well we know that something really really bad had to have happened to make her change. I can say that, if I were in her shoes, I probably would have reacted the same way, probably worse than what she ended up as. I feel for her, my heart breaks for her, and a part of me wonders if it really is better to be heartless or not. By the time you get to the end of the book, maybe you'll have the answer for yourself.

Rated: 5/5 ★

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - Book Review

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.


“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was.”


So I went into this book months after I watched the movie, so of course I already had a preconceived notion of what I thought would happen. I will say that there are quite a few differences, but that will be saved for another segment of my Books V. Movie series.  But back to this book

Honestly I thought this book was one of my favorites this year. There were some things that I didn't like, for example some of Jacob's behavior. I can appreciate the fact that he didn't have friends back in Florida, and since he had a falling out with his one and only friend it would make sense that he's a little less social or more sarcastic. Don't get me wrong, the sarcasm is amazing and it actually made me laugh quite often. But there was just something about him that bothered me. He wasn't as brave as I thought he would be, and maybe I just had a lot higher expectations of him from what I wanted to see come out of him. It made it difficult for me to really feel for him, really root for him in every aspect.

Miss Peregrine was an interesting character as well. Seeing her as an old crone, one that has her own sarcasm attached to her with her demeanor and everything else that made me think of her as completely British. For some reason I just imagined her as an older and meaner Professor McGonagall (I doubt I have to say which book series she's from). But unlike the beloved Professor, this first book didn't allow me a chance to really fall in love with her character. it definitely makes me want to know more about her, and I'm hoping that I get that chance in the next two books.

The way that this book read really made me feel like this was meant to be a series. So I think with that in mind, I had to stop and think about the fact that not everything would be answered when I hit the end of the book. If anything, I had so many more questions. Like what is it about the ymbrines that makes them masters of time? How exactly do they reset the loop and do they ever get to sleep? What makes Abe and Jacob able to see the hollowgasts and the other peculiars can't? Did all peculiars come from circuses or at least spend time in one?

Just so many questions.

I hope I get my hands on the rest of the series soon, and be on the lookout for my book and movie comparison where I can write a lot more about my thoughts on the differences. Right now I can't really say much without spoiling it even more than I probably already did.

Rated: 3.5/5 ★

The Dreamer by E.J. Mellow - Book Review

The first in a spellbinding contemporary fantasy trilogy, The Dreamer has been awarded a Silver for Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi from the eLit Book Awards, a Finalist Medal for Best Cover Design from The Next Generation Indie Book Awards and has appeared in globally distributed book subscription boxes such as the Sci-fi & Fantasy Book Box.

It’s night. Always night. Dreams guard against the evil forged by nightmares. Infinite shooting stars illuminate a moonless sky. A city stands alone, surrounded by a darkened field. On its fringes, a man watches one star separate from the masses and fall. What survives the crash will unveil a secret centuries long hidden.

Molly hasn’t slept well since the night of her twenty-fourth birthday. Being struck by lightning might have something to do with it, but then again, her chicken did look a little undercooked at dinner. Whatever the culprit, her life quickly catapults from mundane to insane as, night after night, Molly is transported through her once dreamless sleep to a mysterious land illuminated by shooting stars.

There she meets the captivating but frustrating Dev, and together they discover Molly possesses a power coveted by his people—the ability to conjure almost anything she desires into existence. Seduced by the possibilities of this gift, Molly shifts her attention from waking life toward the man, the magic, and the world found in her dreams.

But Molly must ask herself—does something truly exist if you only see it when you close your eyes?

Faced with the threat of losing everything—her job, best friend, boyfriend, and most importantly, that little thing called her sanity—Molly will learn just how far she’ll go to uncover what is real and what is merely a figment of her imagination.

“And then there are the dreams that feel as authentic as reality itself, that seem to exist just as your own life does. Where the emotions you experience there carry over to when you're awake. They are so real, so genuine, that you begin to question your own sanity. And you know that when the day comes that you finally stop dreaming them, you will never stop remembering.”

Sometimes dreams can seem so real that you aren't even sure whether or not you actually are dreaming. Those are the types of dreams I crave, the ones that feel so real, that are so close to being the kind of reality that I want that I couldn't imagine waking up again. But none of those dreams could ever compare to the kind that Molly has, and I still don't know whether I want to be in her shoes or not.

See, it all started when Molly was going home after celebrating her 24th birthday with her amazing attorney boyfriend Jared. Maybe it would have been better for her to play hooky that night instead of going home to work because that's when it happened. The whole getting struck by lightning and almost dying thing. Kind of puts a damper on birthday celebrations, right?

Fast-forward to her time in the hospital, while she was in her mini coma, and she ends up dreaming for the first time in her life. And for some reason she dreams about this field with a single tree, with a bunch of stars in the sky, and this mysterious guy dressed in all black. Who is this guy, and has she seen him before? Is he someone from her past that is suddenly making an appearance in her subconscious? Whoever he is, he is certainly dreamy (pun-intended).

Molly basically starts to dream about this land, which she finds out is called Terra, basically a land of dreams. She also finds out that there's so much more to her than she thought, and while she may have already been pretty sure of herself from the moment we met her, she learns that she is meant for greatness. It almost reminded me of that movie, Night at the Museum, where Theodore Roosevelt talked about greatness. Yeah, that's pretty much Molly right now.

Not to mention Dev is a book babe, and I'm so obsessed with him that I wish I could dream about him as much as Molly did. Granted, the time that Molly spent with him was 50% rolling her eyes at him and 50% wanting to take his clothes off, but I know there is so much more to this guy. I just want to know his backstory, like who was he before he became this bad ass head of military specialist that is fascinated by Molly and how human she is.

So did I like the book? Loved it. Do I want the physical book as well as the Kindle version? Absolutely.  Do I want Dev to myself?

You bet your ass I do.

5 /5 ★

Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Caroll

Source of legend and lyric, reference and conjecture, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is for most children pure pleasure in prose. While adults try to decipher Lewis Carroll's putative use of complex mathematical codes in the text, or debate his alleged use of opium, young readers simply dive with Alice through the rabbit hole, pursuing "The dream-child moving through a land / Of wonders wild and new." There they encounter the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle, and the Mad Hatter, among a multitude of other characters--extinct, fantastical, and commonplace creatures. Alice journeys through this Wonderland, trying to fathom the meaning of her strange experiences. But they turn out to be "curiouser and curiouser," seemingly without moral or sense.

For more than 130 years, children have reveled in the delightfully non-moralistic, non-educational virtues of this classic. In fact, at every turn, Alice's new companions scoff at her traditional education. The Mock Turtle, for example, remarks that he took the "regular course" in school: Reeling, Writhing, and branches of Arithmetic-Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision. Carroll believed John Tenniel's illustrations were as important as his text. Naturally, Carroll's instincts were good; the masterful drawings are inextricably tied to the well-loved story.

Divergent - Veronica Roth

Paperback features over fifty pages of bonus materials, including a sneak peek of Insurgent, an author Q&A, a discussion guide, a Divergent playlist, faction manifestos, and more!

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Veronica Roth is the New York Times bestselling author of Divergent, the first in a trilogy of dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

A Dance of Cloaks - David Dalglish

Thren Felhorn is the greatest assassin of his time. Marshalling the thieves’ guilds under his control, he declares war against the Trifect, an allegiance of wealthy and powerful nobles.

Aaron Felhorn has been groomed since birth to be Thren’s heir. Sent to kill the daughter of a priest, Aaron instead risks his own life to protect her from the wrath of his guild. In doing so, he glimpses a world beyond poison, daggers, and the iron control of his father.

Guilds twist and turn, trading allegiances for survival. The Trifect weakens, its reputation broken, its money dwindling. The players take sides as the war nears its end, and Thren puts in motion a plan to execute hundreds.

Only Aaron can stop the massacre and protect those he loves…

Assassin or protector; every choice has its consequences.

The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan

Jason has a problem.
He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper, and a best friend named Leo. They’re all students at a boarding school for “bad kids.” What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly?

Piper has a secret.
Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare about his being in trouble. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits during the school trip, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out.

Leo has a way with tools.
When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too—like the curse everyone keeps talking about, and some camper who;s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god. Does this have anything to do with Jason's amnesia, or the fact that Leo keeps seeing ghosts?

Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard

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 ...

Matched - Ally Condie

In the Society, officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one…until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

Matched is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic.

Red Rising - Pierce Brown

"I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. "That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them."

"I live for you," I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more."

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

The Siren - Kiera Cass

From Kiera Cass, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Selection series, comes a sweeping stand-alone fantasy romance.

A girl with a secret.
The boy of her dreams.
An Ocean between them.

Years ago, Kahlen was rescued from drowning by the Ocean. To repay her debt, she has served as a Siren ever since, using her voice to lure countless strangers to their deaths. Though a single word from Kahlen can kill, she can’t resist spending her days on land, watching ordinary people and longing for the day when she will be able to speak and laugh and live freely among them again. 

Kahlen is resigned to finishing her sentence in solitude...until she meets Akinli. Handsome, caring, and kind, Akinli is everything Kahlen ever dreamed of.

Falling in love with a human breaks the Ocean’s rules. But for the first time in a lifetime of following the rules, Kahlen is determined to follow her heart.

Tall Cool One - Zoey Dean

Tall Cool One is the fourth novel in this witty and risqu series that takes readers behind the scenes of the intoxicating world of Hollywood glitterati. New York blueblood Anna Percy came to L.A. to learn how to have a good time. Now she's surfing Zuma Beach with the industry's hottest young television producer. But duty calls and Anna must jet down to Las Casitas, Mexico, on a secret mission for her uber-powerful businessman father. But it turns out Anna isn't the only one staying at the super-luxury resort with a secret. Soon to be a major motion picture from Universal Pictures, The A-List and its bestselling sequels, Girls on Film, Blonde Ambition, and Tall Cool One, are full of page-turning action about the fast times of Beverly Hills' most beautiful and glamorous people.

Fallen - Lauren Kate

What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours?

17-year-old Lucinda falls in love with a gorgeous, intelligent boy, Daniel, at her new school, the grim, foreboding Sword & Cross . . . only to find out that Daniel is a fallen angel, and that they have spent lifetimes finding and losing one another as good & evil forces plot to keep them apart.

Get ready to fall . . . 

The Exiled Queen - Cinda Williams Chima

Haunted by the loss of his mother and sister, Han Alister journeys south to begin his schooling at Mystwerk House in Oden’s Ford. But leaving the Fells doesn’t mean that danger isn't far behind. Han is hunted every step of the way by the Bayars, a powerful wizarding family set on reclaiming the amulet Han stole from them. And Mystwerk House has dangers of its own. There, Han meets Crow, a mysterious wizard who agrees to tutor Han in the darker parts of sorcery—but the bargain they make is one Han may regret. 

Meanwhile, Princess Raisa ana’Marianna runs from a forced marriage in the Fells, accompanied by her friend Amon and his triple of cadets. Now, the safest place for Raisa is Wein House, the military academy at Oden's Ford. If Raisa can pass as a regular student, Wein House will offer both sanctuary and the education Raisa needs to succeed as the next Gray Wolf queen. 

Everything changes when Han and Raisa’s paths cross, in this epic tale of uncertain friendships, cut-throat politics, and the irresistible power of attraction.

Deep Blue - Jennifer Donnelly

Serefina, daughter of Isabella, Queen of Miromara, has been raised with the expectation - and burden - that she will someday become ruler of the oldest civilization of the merfolk. On the eve of the Dokimí ceremony, which will determine if she is worthy of the crown, Sera is haunted by a strange dream that foretells the return of an ancient evil. But her nightmare is forgotten the next day as she diligently practices her songspell; eagerly anticipates a reunion with her best friend, Neela; and anxiously worries about Mahdi, the crown prince of Matali, and whether his feelings toward her and their future betrothal have changed. Most of all, she worries about not living up to her mother's hopes.

The Dokimí proceeds, a dazzling display of majesty and might, until a shocking turn of events interrupts it: an assassin's arrow wounds Isabella. The realm falls into chaos, and Serafina's darkest premonitions are confirmed. Now she and Neela must embark on a quest to find the assassin's master and prevent a war between the mer nations. Their search will lead them to other mermaid heriones scattered across the six seas. Together they will form an unbreakable bond of sisterhood as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens their world's very existence.

Becoming Alpha - Aileen Erin

Tessa McCaide has a unique talent for getting into trouble. Then again, it isn’t easy for a girl with visions to ignore what she sees. Luckily Tessa and her family are leaving California and moving halfway across the country, giving her the perfect opportunity to leave her reputation as “Freaky Tessa” behind. 
But Tessa doesn’t realize that kissing the wrong guy in her new Texas town could land her in far more trouble than she ever imagined. Like being forced to attend St. Ailbe’s Academy, a secret boarding school for werewolves. 
Even if the wrong guy did accidentally turn her into one of “them” and doom her to attending the weirdest high school ever, Tessa can’t help her growing attraction to the mysterious Dastien Laurent.
When vampires attack St. Alibe’s and her visions pinpoint an enemy in their midst, Tessa realizes that boy drama and her newfound canine tendencies might just be the least of her problems. 

Sleeping Tom - E. V. Fairfall

Hitchhiking is a bad idea but Caden is desperate. When she accepts a ride from the first car to come by she meets Gabriel. He's her age, hot, and the closest thing she has to a savior. Problem is, he is a total jerk. With nowhere to go, Caden convinces Gabriel to let her stay with him for one night. He reluctantly lends a couch.
That night Caden wakes up to strange noises. Concerned, she rushes into Gabriel’s room, already anticipating his bad temper. Instead, he’s kind, sweet, and suspiciously harmless—nothing like the man who gave her a ride. He seems like a different person altogether, and claims he is. By night he is Tom, and by day he is Gabriel. Caden finds herself drawn to the mysteries hidden in his eyes.

For Gabriel, Caden is an annoying mistake. One night turns into many, and despite all his anger towards her, she stays. She even seems to accept him and his flaws, but he still doesn’t trust her—is she staying for him, or has she already discovered more than he's willing to share?