Book Review | Girl in the Walls by Katy Michelle Quinn

Girl in the Walls is a YA novella by Katy Michelle Quinn

A dark & sweet coming of age fairy tale about becoming who you are.

Leaving the city was not Vernon's choice. Neither was moving into an old house in a bumpkin-run town in the Cascadian forest, where the shadows move and the stairs make a sound like dying crows. It's a relief when Vernon discovers a space inside the walls of his bedroom, a space inhabited by a mysterious girl named Violet. Violet's nothing like Vernon. She's pretty and cool, and she has a closetful of cute clothes. But as Vernon and Violet become friends, Vernon starts to realize that she's much more like him than he thought, leading him down a fairy-tale path of self-discovery. Out of the closet and into the world.

Girl in the Walls is a wonderful book.

This is the first thing I have read by Katy Michelle Quinn. Her writing is so poetic! I felt like I was reading a narrative poem; her writing is gorgeous.

Girl in the Walls is short (novella length) and is a coming-of-age, discovering-your-true-self story. It's heartbreaking but it's also wonderful.

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐★
4/5 stars

Content warning for self-harm.

Book Review | The Last Beautiful Girl by Nina Laurin

The Last Beautiful Girl is a young adult horror novel by Nina Laurin.

BLACK MIRROR meets Darcy Coates in this exploration of the dangerous, dark side of beauty in the digital age, with a gothic, haunted-house setting.

When Izzy is dragged from Brooklyn to a tiny town for her parents' new job, she's not thrilled. The silver lining is the gorgeous old mansion she's moved into: the former home of an artist's muse who died tragically in a fire. But the house has its quirks: whole floors are closed off, paintings are covered up, and cell reception is nonexistent.

Izzy throws herself into starting an Instagram fashion account using the gowns and jewelry she finds hidden away in the house. She looks perfect in the photos--almost unnaturally perfect--and they quickly go viral. Soon she's got a new best friend, a potential boyfriend, and is surrounded by a group of girls who want the photoshoots and fame for themselves. But there's a darkness in the house, and a darkness growing in Izzy, too. When girls start dying, it's clear that something--or someone--in the house is growing in power, with deadly intentions.

The beginning of The Last Beautiful Girl reminded me so much of Horrid by Katrina Leno. They had a very similar setup of a girl moving to a new school, everyone knowing the history of her house but not telling her what it is, and the weird dynamic with the mom. Unfortunately, I think the similarities pulled me out of The Last Beautiful Girl. I couldn't help but compare.

The Last Beautiful Girl did eventually stand on it's own, and I loved all of the references to The Picture of Dorian Gray.

I feel like this is one of those books that might work for other people where it didn't quite come together for me. There's supposed to be a change in the main character, but I had a hard time rooting for her because I wasn't really a fan of the character to begin with. This is actually true of all of the characters now that I think about it.

The cover of The Last Beautiful Girl is one of my favorites for the year, but the story sadly didn't make it on to my list.

⭐⭐★★★
2/5 stars

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Book Review | Fractured Tide by Leslie Lutz

Fractured Tide is a YA horror novel by Leslie Lutz.

Lost meets Stranger Things in this eerie, immersive YA thriller, thrusting seventeen-year-old Sia into a reality where the waters in front of her and the jungle behind her are as dangerous as the survivors alongside her.

Sia practically grew up in the water scuba diving, and wreck dives are run of the mill. Take the tourists out. Explore the reef. Uncover the secrets locked in the sunken craft. But this time ... the dive goes terribly wrong.

Attacked by a mysterious creature, Sia's boat is sunk, her customers are killed, and she washes up on a deserted island with no sign of rescue in sight. Waiting in the water is a seemingly unstoppable monster that is still hungry. In the jungle just off the beach are dangers best left untested. When Sia reunites with a handful of survivors, she sees it as the first sign of light.

Sia is wrong.

Between the gulf of deadly seawater in front of her and suffocating depth of the jungle behind her, even the island isn't what it seems.

Haunted by her own mistakes and an inescapable dread, Sia's best hope for finding answers may rest in the center of the island, at the bottom of a flooded sinkhole that only she has the skills to navigate. But even if the creature lurking in the depths doesn't swallow her and the other survivors, the secrets of their fractured reality on the island might.

I wish I had read Fractured Tide back in the summer time! There are so many elements that I dig in this book, and the diving, the shipwreck, the sea monster... it all screams summer reading for me. It's the perfect book for spending time down at the beach. Unfortunately, 2020 did not include much beach time for me so I squeezed Fractured Tide in here at the end of the year.

Fractured Tide has been compared to LOST a lot, and it's an accurate comparison. It definitely has LOST vibes, and it also reminded me of The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling. It's claustrophobic, and it's strange.

Fractured Tide is told through journal entries written from Sia who is shipwrecked on a bizarre deserted island to her dad who is in prison.

My only complaint with Fractured Tide is it lagged in the middle for me. I don't think I would have been as easily pulled away from the middle if I had read it in the summertime instead of just before Christmas. I'm a mood reader, and unfortunately it does affect me.

Along with fans of LOST and The Luminous Dead, I would also recommend Fractured Tide to fans of Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. It's a thrilling book, and the strange setting adds a lot to the experience.

⭐⭐⭐💫★
3.5/5 stars

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Book Review | Horrid by Katrina Leno

Horrid is a YA horror novel by Katrina Leno.

From the author of You Must Not Miss comes a haunting contemporary horror novel that explores themes of mental illness, rage, and grief, twisted with spine-chilling elements of Stephen King and Agatha Christie.

Following her father's death, Jane North-Robinson and her mom move from sunny California to the dreary, dilapidated old house in Maine where her mother grew up. All they want is a fresh start, but behind North Manor's doors lurks a history that leaves them feeling more alone...and more tormented.

As the cold New England autumn arrives, and Jane settles in to her new home, she finds solace in old books and memories of her dad. She steadily begins making new friends, but also faces bullying from the resident "bad seed," struggling to tamp down her own worst nature in response. Jane's mom also seems to be spiraling with the return of her childhood home, but she won't reveal why. Then Jane discovers that the "storage room" her mom has kept locked isn't for storage at all--it's a little girl's bedroom, left untouched for years and not quite as empty of inhabitants as it appears....

Is it grief? Mental illness? Or something more...horrid?

 

Why Did I Read Horrid?

The cover is what first caught my eye. I'm so in love with this cover! I'm also trying to read all of the YA horror written by women that I can this year. Horrid was an obvious fit for me! As as added bonus, Horrid was selected by the Ladies of Horror Fiction Goodreads group as our November readalong book.

The Strengths

I loved the writing in Horrid! I loved the imagination and the creepy build up. I appreciated how subtle yet unsettling Horrid was.

It's hard really hard to say much else without spoiling anything.

The Weaknesses

I mentioned the creepy build up and how subtle the horror is in Horrid. This does make Horrid a slow burn with the only real action happening at the very end. It worked for me, but this is not going to work for everyone.

Final Thoughts

All of my favorite books have an element of imagination in them. This is one of the big reasons I love to read speculative genres. I'm a fan of Katrina Leno's writing, and I love how she was able to infuse that imaginative quality into Horrid. I will keep my eye out for more creepy releases by Leno.

⭐⭐⭐⭐★
4/5 stars

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Book Review | Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Dread Nation is a YA historical fiction/horror novel by Justina Ireland.

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

Even though this is a zombie book, I knew going into Dread Nation that it would be light on the horror elements. I think that helped me adjust to the right expectations going into this. Thankfully there was a more to Dread Nation than the zombies.

Dread Nation was very successful at building the story over the course of the entire novel. I love when a book gets better and better and then thoroughly hooks me by the end. That doesn't always make for a quick read, and it did take me a while to get through Dread Nation. I was able to put it down and pick it back up again days later.

By the end, though, I was hooked and anxious for more. I'll be picking up Deathless Divide (the second half of this duology) soon so be on the look out for that review as well!

⭐⭐⭐💫★
3.5/5 stars

Book Review | Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Rules for Vanishing is a young adult horror novel by Kate Alice Marshall.

In the faux-documentary style of The Blair Witch Project comes the campfire story of a missing girl, a vengeful ghost, and the girl who is determined to find her sister--at all costs.

Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her--and who won't make it out of the woods?

It's been exactly one year since Sara's sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. With her sister gone, Sara doesn't know whether her former friends no longer like her...or are scared of her, and the days of eating alone at lunch have started to blend together. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to "play the game" and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara is sure this is the only way to find Becca--before she's lost forever. And even though she's hardly spoken with them for a year, Sara finds herself deep in the darkness of the forest, her friends--and their cameras--following her down the path. Together, they will have to draw on all of their strengths to survive. The road is rarely forgiving, and no one will be the same on the other side.

I'm writing this review three months after having read Rules for Vanishing. Sometimes this can be a tough thing to do, but sometimes it helps me narrow down the things that really struck me and stayed with me.

In reading Rules for Vanishing, I was most excited for the creepy horrors. It reminded me a lot of when I read Kim Liggett's The Last Harvest. I love finding truly horrific scenes in a young adult book.

I also remember the ending being left up to interpretation. There was a definite ending, but it was an ambiguous one. Rules for Vanishing would make an excellent book club read. I wish I had been buddy reading it when I read it!

Rules for Vanishing is going on my list of automatic young adult horror recommendations. If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, I recommend you pick it up!

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
4.5/5 stars

Book Review | Blood Countess by Lana Popovic

Blood Countess is a historical YA horror novel by Lana Popović.

A historical YA horror novel based on the infamous real-life inspiration for Countess Dracula

In 16th century Hungary, Anna Darvulia has just begun working as a scullery maid for the young and glamorous Countess Elizabeth Báthory. When Elizabeth takes a liking to Anna, she’s vaulted to the dream role of chambermaid, a far cry from the filthy servants’ quarters below. She receives wages generous enough to provide for her family, and the Countess begins to groom Anna as her friend and confidante. It’s not long before Anna falls completely under the Countess’s spell—and the Countess takes full advantage. Isolated from her former friends, family, and fiancé, Anna realizes she’s not a friend but a prisoner of the increasingly cruel Elizabeth. Then come the murders, and Anna knows it’s only a matter of time before the Blood Countess turns on her, too.

This is the kind of book you can't talk about without spoiling things so I'm going to keep this as short and vague as possible.

Why Did I Read Blood Countess?

The main reason I read Blood Countess is because it's a YA horror novel written by a woman horror author. I'm trying to support these authors and their work whenever I can.

Seeing "based on the infamous real-life inspiration for Countess Dracula" in the book description had me really intrigued. I didn't know much about Countess Elizabeth Báthory going into reading Blood Countess. This is probably a good thing because I didn't have any expectations. I certainly need to know more now, though.

The Strengths

Blood Countess sucked me in right away. I did not want to put it down. Lana Popović's writing is perfectly suited for writing such a romantic and brutal piece of historical fiction.

This is truly a horror story. I worry when heading into YA horror, and I think the gothic, romantic, historical kind has me at my most skeptical. I was not disappointed.

Even though this is the first book in a planned "Lady Slayers" series, Blood Countess can stand on its own. In fact, I have no guesses as to what the sequel and the rest of the series will be about, and that's a great thing.

The Weaknesses

I can see people giving up on this book too soon. The horror is slow to emerge, but it's well crafted.

Final Thoughts

I loved Blood Countess, and I'm so glad I took a chance when I ordered it. I can't wait to continue on with the next book in 2021. I missed out on reading her debut duology Wicked Like a Wildfire/Fierce Like a Firestorm. I will be hunting that series down as well.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5/5 stars

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Book Review | Girls Save the World in This One by Ash Parsons

Girls Save the World in This One is a YA horror comedy by Ash Parsons.

June’s whole life has been leading up to this: ZombieCon, the fan convention celebrating all things zombies. She and her two best friends plan on hitting all the panels, photo ops, and meeting the heartthrob lead of their favorite zombie apocalypse show Human Wasteland.

And when they arrive everything seems perfect, though June has to shrug off some weirdness from other fans—people shambling a little too much, and someone actually biting a cast member. Then all hell breaks loose and June and her friends discover the truth: real zombies are taking over the con. Now June must do whatever it takes to survive a horde of actual brain-eating zombies—and save the world.

Girls Save the World in This One was a really cute read. Three best friends spend the day at a zombie convention (ZombieCon!) which turns out to be the real start to the zompocalypse.

I love the fandom in this book. There's a long set up here for the zombies to arrive, but the set up walks you through what it's really like to hang out with friends at a fan convention.

While there are flesh eating zombies, Girls Save the World in This One is still a great book for those who don't care much for horror. The zombies are an awesome backdrop to a story of friendship and fandom.

I know I often tout YA horror that works well for adults, but I want to stress how well I think this book works for teens. I'm trying to get my son to read it but at (almost) 11 it's too pink and girly for him at the moment. I'll keep trying! He's the one I bring with me to conventions, and I think this book is a perfect first zombie book.

⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Review copy provided by publisher

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Book Review | Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Sawkill Girls is a YA horror novel by Claire Legrand.

Who are the Sawkill Girls?

Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.

Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.

Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires.

Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight… until now.

This is going to be a hard review to write, but I'm determined to review all of the books I finish reading. Sawkill Girls just didn't work for me. It has gotten a lot of love so there is definitely an audience, but I'm not in that population.

There was a lot going on with Sawkill Girls. Instead of being a blend of genres, it felt like it meandered from one to the next. It was a very long read for me, but a lot of reviewers I trust dug it so it might still be a good fit for you. The writing within the story was great. I would be willing to read another horror novel from Legrand. I just didn't mesh well with this one.

⭐⭐★★★

Book Review | Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Wilder Girls is a (debut!) young adult horror novel by Rory Power.

It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.

But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.

I normally don't care for moment in time stories, but I loved Wilder Girls! Wilder Girls is being marketed as a stand alone, but I'm holding out hope that it will turn into a series. Everything about it feels way bigger than the story we got with Wilder Girls. I want to know more about the disease, the setting, the characters... I want prequels and sequels and more of this world.

If you enjoy body horror, I think you will really dig Wilder Girls. It's going to end up on my favorites list for the year.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Book Review | Five Midnights by Ann Dávila Cardinal

Five Midnights is a YA horror novel by Ann Dávila Cardinal.

Five friends cursed. Five deadly fates. Five nights of retribución.

If Lupe Dávila and Javier Utierre can survive each other’s company, together they can solve a series of grisly murders sweeping though Puerto Rico. But the clues lead them out of the real world and into the realm of myths and legends. And if they want to catch the killer, they'll have to step into the shadows to see what's lurking there—murderer, or monster?

The premise of Five Midnights is set around the legend of El Cuco. Going into Five Midnights I expected it to be heavier on the horror elements. I think this book will appeal most to those who enjoy mystery/thrillers with a supernatural element.

I’m new to the legend of El Cuco, but I enjoyed what Ann Dávila Cardinal did with the legend. I got a real sense that she made it her own.

I loved the Puerto Rico setting and the way Cardinal wove in the culture and a lot of (very accessible) Spanish language throughout the story.

The ending of Five Midnights had a slower mystery oriented unveiling of what was occurring than a punchier horror climax. This will work well for YA readers who are moving into darker books.

⭐⭐⭐★★

Discussion:
Have you heard of the El Cuco legend before? El Cuco is a boogeyman that will come for you if you aren't behaving. It reminds me a bit of La Llorona in the way parents tell their kids the stories to keep them in line.

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | The Last Harvest by Kim Liggett

The Last Harvest is a YA horror novel from Kim Liggett.

“I plead the blood.”

Those were the last words seventeen-year-old golden boy quarterback Clay Tate heard rattling from his dad's throat when he discovered him dying on the barn floor of the Neely Cattle Ranch, clutching a crucifix to his chest.

Now, on the first anniversary of the Midland, Oklahoma slaughter, the whole town's looking at Clay like he might be next to go over the edge. Clay wants to forget the past, but the sons and daughters of the Preservation Society—a group of prominent farmers his dad accused of devil worship—won't leave him alone. Including Ali, his longtime crush, who suddenly wants to reignite their romance after a year of silence, and hated rival Tyler Neely, who’s behaving like they’re old friends.

Even as Clay tries to reassure himself, creepy glances turn to sinister stares and strange coincidences build to gruesome rituals—but when he can never prove that any of it happened, Clay worries he might be following his dad down the path to insanity...or that something far more terrifying lies in wait around the corner.

Holy crap, this is YA?

The Last Harvest could have passed for an adult horror novel if it weren't for the sterotypical spin the bottle, 7 minutes in heaven, and high school football games. I probably would have recommended this to fans of Ania Ahlborn if the maturity level pendulum hadn't swung quite so far.

First and foremost I enjoyed the horror aspects of The Last Harvest. It was gory and it was unsettling. There was a dream sequence element to it all which usually doesn't work for me, but Kim Liggett managed to successfully make me wonder what was real and what wasn't.

The only thing I didn't enjoy was the repetitive plot. Even when new things were happening, the structure of the story and the sequence of the action was very "lather, rinse, repeat". By 60% I was really wanting the story to wrap up.

Despite my frustration with the structure, the entire book lead up to a very satisfying conclusion. Kim Liggett is an author I will be reading again. If you are a fan of YA horror, I would definitely check out The Last Harvest. It's not like any other YA horror I have read.

7/10: Recommended Read

Book Review | Frostblood by Elly Blake

Frostblood is a young adult fantasy from Elly Blake. It's the first book in the Frostblood Saga series.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a fireblood who must hide her powers of heat and flame from the cruel frostblood ruling class that wants to destroy all that are left of her kind. So when her mother is killed for protecting her and rebel frostbloods demand her help to kill their rampaging king, she agrees. But Ruby's powers are unpredictable, and she's not sure she's willing to let the rebels and an infuriating (yet irresistible) young man called Arcus use her as their weapon.

All she wants is revenge, but before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to take part in the king's tournaments that pit fireblood prisoners against frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her and from the icy young man she has come to love.

Fast-paced and compelling, Frostblood is the first in a page-turning new young adult three-book series about a world where flame and ice are mortal enemies—but together create a power that could change everything.

There are two things I noticed right away while reading Frostblood. One, it jumped straight into the action and two, the story was very typical for a YA fantasy. This was both good and bad throughout Frostblood.

On the plus side, I never lost interest in what I was reading. I enjoyed the writing, and I liked the characters. (Ruby's love interest was probably the only thing I found unique to Frostblood.) I loved that we were given a full story within Frostblood. I was so petrified by the end that I was approaching a cliffhanger, but all was well with the ending!

On the down side, there wasn't much there in terms of plot that I hadn't already read and experienced in other books. It was certainly well crafted and I enjoyed it, but I felt like I had already been there before.

I'm curious why it's firebloods and frostbloods. It couldn't have been firebloods and icebloods? (Too obvious?) Or frostbloods and emberbloods? I'd be pissed if I was a frostblood. This is ICE, bitches.

At the end of the day, I wasn't quite the target audience for Frostblood. I expected more fantasy and less romance which was entirely my fault. I enjoyed it, but I think readers interested in YA romance will probably enjoy it much more than I did. Even though part of me feels like this wasn't a good fit for me, the other part of me feels pretty sure I'll read book two.

6/10: Good Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | The Gates by John Connolly

The Gates is a YA horror/fantasy by John Connolly.

Young Samuel Johnson and his dachshund, Boswell, are trying to show initiative by trick-or-treating a full three days before Halloween which is how they come to witness strange goings-on at 666 Crowley Road. The Abernathys don't mean any harm by their flirtation with the underworld, but when they unknowingly call forth Satan himself, they create a gap in the universe. A gap in which a pair of enormous gates is visible. The gates to Hell. And there are some pretty terrifying beings just itching to get out...

Can one small boy defeat evil? Can he harness the power of science, faith, and love to save the world as we know it?

Bursting with imagination, The Gates is about the pull between good and evil, physics and fantasy. It is about a quirky and eccentric boy who is impossible not to love, and the unlikely cast of characters who give him the strength to stand up to a demonic power.

John Connolly manages to re-create the magical and scary world of childhood that we've all left behind but so love to visit. And for those of you who thought you knew everything you could about particle physics and the universe, think again. This novel makes anything seem possible.

I didn't realize going into it that The Gates was YA, but since I happen to enjoy YA and any other "age group" really, I was good to go.

First I want say that I love the entire dust jacket on this book. It's great. You might want to keep an eye out for a print copy.

The story is pretty great, too. Here is where I confess this is my first John Connolly book. Is he always this humorous? I had a good time reading this.

There's a lot of science (big bang, particle physics, what have you) to explain the gates of hell. At first I thought the science and the story weren't connecting very well, but once I realized how YA The Gates was, I thought it was perfect.

So basically Samuel Johnson is out trick-or-treating early when he happens upon some folks who are summoning the devil and opening a gateway to hell.

The Gates is a fun read. It's set during Halloween, it's full of scary neighbors and adults who don't listen, there's demons run amok and friends you can count on, and it's laugh out loud funny.

7/10: Recommended Read

Book Review | The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner is a YA dystopian novel by James Dashner. It is also the first book in the Maze Runner series.

If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.

Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.

Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.

Everything is going to change.

Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

Remember. Survive. Run.

Take this review with a grain of salt.

I tried to read The Maze Runner back in January with no luck. I couldn't get into it at all, and I decided it wasn't for me.

This past month, however, my hubs wanted to watch the movie. I have strict rules against watching a movie before I read the book, but since I had no intentions of reading the book, I thought what the hey. It's not often hubs is requesting one of "my" movies so I went with it.

Here's the kicker - I really liked the movie. So much so that I wanted to read the book.

The book was much easier for me to get into this time around because it was more like a reread. I was also listening to it on audio with a good narrator so it was altogether a nice read for me.

I can't say what my original rating would have been if I had forced my way through it, but I do know my interest in this series is high right now. I just need to decide if I'm going to read The Scorch Trials now or stick with watching the movies.

6/10: Good Read

Have you read The Maze Runner? What about the movie - have you seen it? I'm really looking forward to The Scorch Trials. I'm leaning more toward doing the movie again, though.

Book Review | The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig

The Fire Sermon is the first book in a dystopian trilogy from Francesca Haig.

Book Description

When Zach and I were born our parents must have counted and recounted: limbs, fingers, toes. We were perfect. They would have been disbelieving: nobody dodged the split between Alpha and Omega.

Nobody.

They were born together and they will die together.

One strong Alpha twin and one mutated Omega; the only thing they share is the moment of their death.

The Omegas live in segregation, cast out by their families as soon as their mutation becomes clear. Forced to live apart, they are ruthlessly oppressed by their Alpha counterparts.

The Alphas are the elite. Once their weaker twin has been cast aside, they're free to live in privilege and safety, their Omega twin far from their thoughts.

Cass and Zach are both perfect on the outside: no missing limbs, no visible Omega mutation. But Cass has a secret: one that Zach will stop at nothing to expose.

The potential to change the world lies in both their hands. One will have to defeat the other to see their vision of the future come to pass, but if they're not careful both will die in the struggle for power.

Book Review

The Fire Sermon was an enjoyable read despite the fact I'm a bit burned out on the dystopian genre.

The dystopian hook with The Fire Sermon revolves around twins. In each pair of twins there is an Alpha and an Omega. The Omega always has a genetic defect and is split off from their family and their twin. The twins are still linked, however, and when one twin dies, so does the other. It's an intriguing concept. I'll be honest - I didn't grasp how some of the twin phenomenons in The Fire Sermon could realistically occur, but it was easy for me to "go with it".

Since Cass and Zach were both seemingly born with no defects, their story goes far beyond the typical Alpha and Omega twin existence.

I'm not sure if The Fire Sermon is classified as a YA novel or not, but it is probably best suited for YA readers. It's unfortunate The Fire Sermon is being released into an oversaturated market. I can imagine it would have been extremely popular about four years ago, but it's going to have a tough time standing out against the crowd. The Fire Sermon is the first book of a planned trilogy so hopefully it can pick up traction and find a good audience.

Like most series books - especially of the YA flavor - my rating for the series will likely be higher than my rating for the individual books. As it stands now, The Fire Sermon is a solid 3-stars, with plans to read book two.

6/10: Good Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | The Twelve-Fingered Boy by John Hornor Jacobs

The Twelve-Fingered Boy is a YA fantasy novel by John Hornor Jacobs.

Book Description

Fifteen-year-old fast-talking Shreve doesn’t mind juvie. He’s good at dealing contraband candy, and three meals a day is more than his drunk mother provided. In juvie, the rules never change and everyone is the same. In juvie, Shreve has life figured out.

So when he’s assigned a strangely silent and vulnerable new cellmate, Jack, Shreve takes the younger boy under his wing. But all Shreve’s plans and schemes unravel when he discovers Jack is different. For one thing, Jack has six fingers per hand. For another thing, he just might have superpowers.

Soon Jack has drawn the attention of the cellblock bullies as well as the mysterious and chilling Mr. Quincrux—who claims to be from the Department of Health and Human Services. But when Shreve feels Quincrux invade his mind and shuffle through his darkest memories, he knows Quincrux’s interest in Jack is far more sinister. Mr. Quincrux means to take Jack away. For what purposes, no one knows.

But Shreve has another plan: escape.

Why did I read The Twelve-Fingered Boy?

I'm a fan of John Hornor Jacobs. His debut novel Southern Gods blew me away. (You can check out my review of Southern Gods here.) The Twelve-Fingered Boy is Jacobs's first YA novel, and it sounded like an awesome read.

The Strengths

I have a strong affection for coming of age stories, and I don't find myself reading male POV YA books very often. The Twelve-Fingered Boy was able to fill that spot in my heart and make me a very happy reader.

I love the friendship between Shreve and Jack. This is something I look forward to reading more of in the rest of the series.

Superpowers! Can a YA fantasy get better than the main characters having special abilities? I'm not sure that it can for me. If you love books like the Lorien Legacies (I Am Number Four, etc.) then you should check out The Twelve-Fingered Boy as well.

I'm very happy to report The Twelve-Fingered Boy is a full story. I bitch A LOT around here about series books not giving a full story in each volume. I firmly believe that any and every book should be able to stand on its own. Even though there is a larger story arch and questions left unanswered, The Twelve-Fingered Boy is completely capable of standing on its own.

The design of the physical book is fantastic. I'm very blessed to have a hard copy. It's a great read so I certainly recommend downloading the ebook if that is your thing, but bibliophiles, keep in mind this is a stunning book.

The front and back matter are printed on dark paper.

The Weakness

When the big baddie Mr. Quincrux forcibly enters Shreve's mind (not a spoiler/in the book blurb), Shreve has a very strong reaction to how he's been violated. I was uncomfortable with the extent to which Shreve was equating this violation especially given the fact that (this part is a spoiler) Shreve goes on to do the exact same thing to others.

Would I recommend The Twelve-Fingered Boy to others?

Yes! It was a really great read. The Shibboleth comes out in March so I will definitely be reading that one soon as well.

8/10: Great Read

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Review copy provided by author via publisher

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang | Book Review

What's Left of Me is the first book in Kat Zhang's The Hybrid Chronicles series. The second book Once We Were released this week.

Book Description

I should not exist. But I do.

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

Review

I absolutely love it when a book builds and builds and ends on an awesome note like one giant crescendo. Unfortunately, What's Left of Me was the exact opposite of the crescendo effect. What's Left of Me is possibly the first book I have ever read that was a complete decrescendo.

The beginning of What's Left of Me was awesome. The way the premise of two souls inhabiting one body was explained and handled was nothing short of brilliant. I was immediately invested in the characters, and it was hard to get the premise or the characters off of my mind.

Once the plot really got underway, however, my problems with the book began to snowball. We are told society feels one way, yet we are shown another. We drifted from huge thought provoking questions down to teenage drama. I had no trouble believing two souls could exist in one body, but I couldn't believe normal human reactions. I felt like less and less time was spent on the details the further I got into the book. There were just too many plot holes to keep me from singing its praises.

A lot of the logic problems I found with What's Left of Me reminded me of Article 5 by Kristin Simmons. If you loved Article 5, the issues I had with What's Left of Me may not bother you.

I'm in a weird predicament having to rate What's Left of Me. I loved the beginning of What's Left of Me so much I'm almost inclined to recommend it just for that (so good!), but the rest of the book was such a let down that I have absolutely no intention of continuing the rest of the series. As a result, my rating is split down the middle.

5/10: > aka the decrescendo of awesome