Revenge, Ice Cream, and Other Things Best Served Cold

Posted on by lynndellwatson

22019274

Revenge, Ice Cream, and Other Things Best Served Cold by Katie Finn delivers intense revenge. The story begins with a recap of past events. Hallie seems to be bent on revenge even though everything came to a head already. The revenge pit just keeps getting dug deeper and deeper. Both Gemma and Hallie go all out with their vengeful acts towards each other and the people around them suffer too. Interesting, heartbreaking and sometimes touching, this book was difficult to put down and the cliffhanger ending makes me want to dive into the next book in the series.

 

Dead of Winter

Posted on by lynndellwatson

18746546

The Dead of Winter, by Kresley Cole, left me hanging and in anxious anticipation of the fourth book in The Arcana Chronicles! The book begins with Evie leaving Death (Aric) to save Jack from the torturous twins. She makes more allies and, eventually, Death visits their camp. Together they are able to rescue Jack after some intense action and cooperation. The twins have taken Selena, the Archer, and Evie, Jack and Death work together to try to save her from the sadistic and twisted twins. Evie finally makes a choice between Death and Jack before an attack occurs and the book ends with no publication date specified for the fourth book-AAAHHH!

I absolutely love the variety of languages, the humor, the dynamics of the characters and the amount of complexity of each character – a perfect amount – and the fact that no character in this series is static!

Going Down in Flames

Posted on by lynndellwatson

18363243

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the ebook of Going Down in Flames by Chris Cannon! Going Down in Flames is the first book in a trilogy about dragons. Bryn discovers that she is a dragon on her sixteenth birthday and, if that’s not enough, she is told by her parents that she will be shunned by other dragons because they cross-bred. Bryn’s father is a Red Dragon and her mother is a Blue Dragon. This makes Bryn a mix. Cross marriages are forbidden, so when her parents fell in love with each other, they ran away from dragon society because they felt as though they had no other choice. Bryn is forced by the Directorate (the governing organization of Dragon society) to attend dragon school and is placed in the Green Dragon dorms in exchange for letting them “study’ her scientifically. Bryn’s life is threatened more than once, conspiracies fly and new acquaintances are made and friendships are built. Going Down in Flames is a fun beginning to a series with a lot of potential!

Endless Knight

Posted on by lynndellwatson

16175040

I am loving the Arcana Chronicles series! The second book, Endless Knight, begins right where Poison Princess left off – when Evie transformed into the Empress to save her life through self-defense and Jackson saw her with all of her powers. Jackson states that he doesn’t want to be with the Arcana; he says they aren’t right. Evie, Selena, Finn and Matthew continue to meet more Arcana and make truces with some. Jack and Evie work through their differences and overcome their problems. Death kidnaps Evie and stunts her powers. The more she gets to know death, the more she understands him and cares for him. Then Matthew tells Evie that Jack has been captured by twin Arcana who enjoy torturing their victims, so now Evie must choose between Jack or Death. Wow! I love this book and I am excited to continue reading with the third book, Dead of Winter. Great characters, interesting surroundings, lots of action and adventure, dynamic relationships and romance make this a fun series to read!

The Crown

Posted on by lynndellwatson

ca2efd26-0c72-4593-bf88-a7cff3c7d573-_cb273808430_

The Crown by Kiera Cass is actually better than I expected it to be. The end to the popular Selection series, The Crown contains resolution and hope for a better future for the kingdom. Eadlyn learns who she can and cannot trust and discovers some family secrets along the way. Some predictability, but a fun book nevertheless.

Poison Princess

Posted on by lynndellwatson

13450339

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole is the start of an amazing series. This book contains many genres, such as dystopian, supernatural, romance, adventure, mythology and fantasy. Poison Princess immediately intrigued me with the feeling of doom in the first chapter. I was pulled into the story because it is interesting in so many ways; the Louisiana culture and language and the fantastical and mythological pull around Evie. I love the Cajun vocabulary lessons and culture and I think I felt at home with it because I lived in Louisiana during an impressionable age while growing up. I lived in several areas of Louisiana between the ages of nine and twelve. The Cajun references made me smile and sometimes cringe because they were spot on.

The author changes the point of view from Evie to the kidnapper for the prologue and one other chapter. This strategic writing gives readers insight into the enemy’s world. Clever, Kresley Cole! There is a bit of swearing and sexual innuendo that I will warn students about, but I absolutely love this book with its dynamic characters and I plan on reading it again and finishing the Arcana Chronicles series as soon as possible.

True Born

Posted on by lynndellwatson

true-born-epub

Thanks to Entangled Teen and NetGalley for the arc of True Born by L.E. Sterling! True Born is the first in a new dystopian series involving twins, plague and plague resistance, elitism, fantasy, and a genetics mystery. This fun story livens up with Jared’s and Lucy’s interesting relationship and the mystery of the power that Lucy and her twin sister Margot hold. I wanted more but, alas, I will have to wait for the sequel!

Map of Bones

Posted on by lynndellwatson

25814363

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the arc of The Map of Bones by Francesca Haig! The Map of Bones is the second book in The Fire Sermon series. Radiation destroyed the world and created defects and oddities, as well as everyone alive having a twin. The strong twin is the Alpha and the different twin is the Omega. The Omegas are persecuted, but if one twin dies, they both die. Secrets of life after the blast are discovered and the race is on between the council and the resistance to see who gains and uses the knowledge first. Cass has grown wiser through her trials and experiences with others. The suspenseful and interesting world building make this a good read!

Off the Page

Posted on by lynndellwatson

off-the-page-by-jodi-picoult

Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer is the companion to Between the Lines by the same authors. Cute, charming and a clean romantic story with some teenage angst added to the mix. The story is innocent but still has enough stress for the characters to deal with, which raises the interesting factor! Definitely a fun read!