The Fourline Trilogy by Pam Brondos

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Thanks to Skyscape and Goodreads for the free copy of Gateway to Fourline by Pam Brondos! Complex characters and a mysterious story line make Gateway to Fourline interesting to read. Natalie is my favorite character because she truly cares about her family and tries to be as independent as possible. She becomes part of a world she knows nothing about as she tries to help her new employers and newly found friends. I especially enjoyed the bastle herder facade when Nat pretended to have fleas! Very funny! Interesting world and characters make Gateway to Fourline the beginning of a promising fantasy trilogy!

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Thanks to NetGalley and Skyscape for the arc of On the Meldon Plain by Pam Brondos! The author sums up events from Gateway to Fourline nicely. Nat still wants to help Estos and she feels guilty that Soris was harmed by a Nala. Nat trains to be a Warrior Sister and she returns to Fourline, after completion of her training, to kill the Nala that harmed Soris. To truly kill a Nala, you must behead it, and Nat only harmed it previously. She is also still learning the depths of her powers. Nat goes on a mission with Annin, Andris, Soris and a few others to find Emilia (Estos’ sister). While on this mission, Nat is determined to find a cure for everyone and anyone who has been harmed by Nala venom. Once the venom enters your body, you began to change and become part Nala or duozi. In Fourline, there is tremendous prejudice towards duozi.

On the Meldon Plain is a bit more serious than Gateway to Fourline, but it still has the same great writing and complex characters as the first book. I thoroughly enjoy the relationships and world building that Pam Brondos has done with her Fourline series.

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Thanks to NetGalley and Skyscape for the arc of The Last Remnant by Pam Brondos! This book finishes the Fourline trilogy perfectly! Nat discovers what causes the Nala venom to take over and change someone into a duozi, but she hasn’t found a cure yet. So, she sends Annin to Fourline to see if Sister Ethet can use Nat’s discovery to come up with a cure. Nat keeps experimenting and finds the cure. She’s anxious to get to Fourline so she can share her findings, but has been told not to go for her own safety. Nat sneaks through the tunnel anyway and inadvertently lets her sister, Cal, slip through the tunnel also. Nat is captured and is injured and given a remnant from the Nalaide (the Nala queen). Nat is rescued and she travels with her friends and sister to a wisdom house where Nat hears about the prediction of a sister who will kill the Nalaide, ending the Nala. The prediction describes the markings on Nat’s arm. Nat continues to fight the Nalaide in her dreams and tries to keep her and her sister safe. The struggle brings stress to everyone involved and closeness between Nat and Cal. This fantasy trilogy contains some romance, battles, suspense and mystery and I highly recommend it!

The Telling

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Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the arc of The Telling by Alexandra Sirowy! The synopsis hooked me and I couldn’t stop reading! This book contains some casual conversational swearing with a group of teenagers (just a heads-up if that bothers you). Lana tells the story of before her stepbrother Ben was murdered and after he was murdered. Ben enjoyed telling scary stories to Lana and in these tales, Ben and Lana were always the heroes. After the teenage group has been at the local water spot, they find a body lodged under the water. They bring the body up, try to revive her to no avail and discover she’s the suspect in Ben’s murder, his ex-girlfriend Maggie. Of course, they are immediately thought of as suspects and so they decide to search for clues to clear their names. More violent acts occur and Lana wonders if Ben is the cause. She imagines Ben as an apparition that is seeking revenge. Murders and mystery twist the story around to bring past, present and family secrets into the light. The ending is a tear jerker. Very good writing, story building and the right amount of thrill make it a 5 star book!

Black River Falls

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Actual rating: 3.5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and Clarion Books for the arc of Black River Falls by Jeff Hirsch! A quarantine due to the virus called Lassiter’s has occurred. Lassiter’s is short for Lassiter’s Viral-Induced Retrograde Amnesia. The virus hit on October 16th, when people of all ages lost their memories and couldn’t even remember their families. Narrated by Cardinal Cassidy, Cardinal tells the story as if he’s writing/talking to his brother. Cardinal hasn’t contracted the virus and therefore, hasn’t lost his memory. He meets his mom in town, but she doesn’t seem to recognize him and she is living with a man that is not Cardinal’s father. He rescues a young woman from men pretending to be her husband and friend (a scheme men have thought up to capture women). The secret of the virus’ origins is revealed to Cardinal and he has the choice of revealing it to Dr. Lassiter and helping find the cure or ignoring the information and going on with life as it is right now. Sci-fi and dystopian fans will enjoy this book with the clever world building and character development.

Glitter

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Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the arc of Glitter by Aprilynne Pike! This clever and imaginative book involves a young lady, who is a witness to the king murdering a different young lady. The witness is used as part of a blackmail plan contrived by her own mother. The witness’ name is Danica and her mother is concerned with social position and uses blackmail to make her daughter the next queen. Danica’s father is a drug addict and his drug of choice is called “glitter”. Danica formulates a plan for making enough money to buy her way out of the palace life and to gain her freedom – she is going to slowly use “glitter” in cosmetics and make palace dwellers addicted. She gains an assistant while her business continues to prosper. Her life, relationships, business and future all become complicated beyond anything Danica could have imagined! I hope there’s a sequel to this book, even though it can be read as a stand-alone, it has an ending that can go either way.

Vassa in the Night

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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the arc of Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter! A short mythology of night is given before the story starts. Vassa lives with her step siblings and has a painted, wooden doll living in her pocket. Erg, the doll Vassa’s mom had made for her, eats human food and tends to steal items from others. The nighttime seems to lengthen a little each night, so time passes slowly. Vassa is determined to figure out the problem with night. A weird story full of creative writing that reminds me of the Studio Ghibli movies, Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away. This story is like a mixture of the two with its own fairytale added in. Great writing + odd story = 3.5 stars.

The Replacement Crush

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Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the arc of The Replacement Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts! Viv is beginning her junior year of high school with her best friend Jaz. She lives with her single mom who owns a bookstore and writes mystery novels under an unknown pseudonym. Viv likes Jake and then she discovers that he is a hormonal jerk. This makes her decide to create a replacement crush list filled with guys that she has no romantic interest in. During her replacement crush quest, she meets Dallas, a senior from Wisconsin who just moved to town with his family. Dallas begins working at the bookstore with Viv and he has some secrets of his own. Torturous, emotional and romantic turmoil, cute nicknames, references to readers and bloggers everywhere and even some scary, suspenseful drama make me give The Replacement Crush 5 stars!

 

A Shadow Bright and Burning

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Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the arc of A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess! I read an excerpt in Buzz Books YA Fall/Winter 2016 and wanted to read the rest of the book, thankfully, it was available on NetGalley. The fantasy story involves witches, magicians and sorcerers, but they are all different in this world from what we are accustomed to . Magicians are untrustworthy scoundrels, witches start fires and sorcerers control fire. Families and Artifacts harm people and go to battle against humans. Henrietta Howel, Nettie, is a young teacher and is taken by a sorcerer to have her own sorcerer skills revealed. Rook has been Nettie’s friend throughout her life and she doesn’t want to leave him behind. Thinking that living in the Sorcerers’ society will be a better life, Nettie takes Rook along. Trials abound for the both of them as secrets reveal themselves, sometimes unwillingly. This is a story worthy of Harry Potter fans and for readers who enjoyed the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. I encourage fantasy lovers to read this, you will devour it! I like how Jessica Cluess states in her author’s notes that she is an “unapologetic nerd.”! This shows how down to earth she is; I love it!

Love Blind

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Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for the arc of Love Blind by Christa Desir and Jolene Perry! A teenage boy, Kyle, as the main character in chapter one, then Hailey for chapter two. Alternating between Kyle and Hailey each chapter lets the reader live in both of their worlds better than first person point of view would have. Hailey has been diagnosed as legally blind (the ophthalmologist tells her she has “old-people eyes”),lives with her two adoptive moms and she has a list of fears to overcome. Hailey is the singer in the band, Blinders On, with her two friends. Kyle lives with his single mom and he’s dealing with being painfully shy and getting bullied at school. Kyle and Hailey meet and become reluctant friends and begin to work on Hailey’s fear list. In the meantime, Hailey talks Kyle into making his own list. Some use of the “F” word, but it fits in with the situations discussed in the book. Love Blind fits in the young adult genre because of its swearing and sex language. This book deals with some intense, tough issues: extreme bullying, losing virginity, hpv, dysfunctional families, blindness, being adopted, gay parents, sexuality and love with creative writing and care. One of my greatest fears is becoming blind and I admire anyone who has dealt with blindness. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and grew to care about them, with their dynamic personalities, humor and drama. The story is intense and deep with an inconclusive ending that leaves the mind to wonder about the characters’ futures.

Gemini

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Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the arc of Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee! This book tells the story of a very difficult situation that would be hard to imagine. Hailey and Clara are teenagers and conjoined twins trying to live as normal of a life as possible. Just thinking about all of the problems Hailey and Clara have to overcome daily, overwhelms me. As a parent, I relate to their mother who wants to protect them and help their lives be normal, but only so much can be fixed, taken care of or ignored. The family moved to a small community to protect Hailey and Clara from the press and strangers. It works to a point. The twins are growing up and are contemplating which colleges they wish to attend. They have individual interests and want to do different things in life. Each is interested in a different young man and that is an unimaginable problem too, feeling that the two of you could never be alone (you and your date) to talk, dance or anything. Then the prospect of marriage and children would feel impossible. Written from the girls points of view, Gemini will touch your heart!

The Secret Life of a Dream Girl

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Thanks to Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for the arc of The Secret Life of a Dream Girl by Tracy Deebs! First off, it is a must to read the synopsis to understand what’s going on in the book, because I didn’t do that first and was lost. After reading the blurb, the story made perfect sense. Keegan has a crush on Dahlia, but she doesn’t realize it. She thinks his crush is on another girl, who she begins calling “dream girl”, and vows to help Keegan woo and win his dream girl. Keegan and Dahlia help each other through personal and family struggles, growing closer to each other in the meantime. Cute and heartfelt, a nice romantic story.