Hearts Still Beating by Brooke Archer

Posted on by lynndellwatson

Apocalyptic USA!

The Tick is rampant and turning people into zombies but there’s a new medicine that turns the effects around, as long as it’s taken consistently. 17 yo Mara has turned and then been given the medicine so she’s now considered one of the Altered. The Altered are coherent and human acting while taking the medicine consistently but if they miss a few doses, they can turn and become dangerous.
Mara is brought back to her godparents since her parents are dead. The community doesn’t trust the Altered but circumstances change quickly when a human makes decisions that are deceptive and dangerous.

Likes/dislikes: The author created an interesting world. The dystopian premise and zombies will intrigue young adult readers. I enjoyed the suspense that came along with the mystery of the killings.

Mature content: PG for kissing, mention of underage drinking.
Language: R for 75 swears and 7 f-words.
Violence: R for repeated bloody violence and deaths.
Ethnicity: falls to white with a brown skinned side character.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

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Female empowerment in this tale of magic.

16yo Deka is worried that her blood is impure in a society that shuns those that are different. The village holds a ritual to know if a person is impure or not and it’s time for Deka’s participation. She lives alone with her weakened father who had an illness a few months ago; the illness that killed her mother at the same time. When her true nature shows itself while she’s protecting her village, everyone turns on her thinking she’s a demon. An emperor’s helper saves her and takes her to the capital to receive training to fight off death shrieks who wreak havoc on villages. Deka will discover more than her fate and the truth of who she is.

Likes/dislikes: I love the cover of this book. Deka’s strength is inspiring. Deka and Keita have a cute romance.
Mature Content: PG-13 for implied sexual assault.
Language: PG-13 for 23 swears, no f-words.
Violence: R for bloody deaths.
Ethnicity: Deka has dark skin and her father is pale with blonde hair. The Emperor has bluish black skin. People with dark brown skin, golden skin, pink skin, and every shade from deep brown to eggshell are mentioned.

Snowglobe by Soyoung Park

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Unique dystopian novel! 3.5 out of 5 stars.

17yo Jeon lives with her twin brother, mother, and grandmother in the extremely harsh environment surrounding Snowglobe. The main job for residents is producing power by running on giant hamster wheels for ten hours each day. Jeon is asked to leave her home and family to be a replacement for the Snowglobe star Goh Haeri. Jeon is thrilled because this means her family will be taken care of and her mother will no longer have to work but can stay home with grandmother instead. Jeon arrives in Snowglobe excited and happy but things aren’t adding up and when she discovers secret passages by accident, her existence is threatened.

Likes/dislikes: Strange concept that’s hard to grasp and become engrossed in. I enjoyed the mystery behind Goh Haeri. The story has an interesting and unique concept.
Mature content: PG-13 for underage drinking.
Language: R for 49 swears, no f-words.
Violence: PG for death.
Ethnicity: predominantly Korean

Powerless by Lauren Roberts

Posted on by lynndellwatson

If you enjoyed Hunger Games, you’ll enjoy Powerless!

The sixth Purging Trials are set to take place. 18yo Paedyn is placed in the competition unknowingly and feels out of her depth against the others since she has no powers and is secretly an Ordinary. 19yo Prince Kai is the king’s Enforcer and the trials have been planned for Kai to win. Paedyn and Kai decide to work together to win the trials. What they discover along the way will either make or break them.

Likes/dislikes: The story has many similarities with The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Some parts feel rushed or forced, such as the relationship between Kai and Paedyn. I like the concept and it’s an enjoyable read.
Mature content: G for kissing
Language: R for 154 swears, no f-words
Violence: PG-13 for bloody fighting
Ethnicity: predominantly white with olive, brown and black skin mentioned

The Chaperone by M. Hendrix

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Will her plan implode?
Stella is a 17yo teenager living in New America with her mother, father, sister Shea, and 60 year old Sister Helen, the family chaperone. When Sister Helen collapses and dies, after giving Stella a pendant and saying the word Angel, Stella is distraught. Stella knows that she needs to stay pure so she’ll be eligible to marry soon, since girls don’t have many options besides becoming a wife and having children. She searches for reasons to continue to live at home but doesn’t find much that keeps her happy. When Stella discovers a way to get out of her situation, can she trust it or will her plan implode and make her life worse?
Likes/dislikes: The author repeats the concept of having to be pure for marriage as though readers won’t understand the first few times it’s mentioned. Dystopian novel that didn’t really pull my interest. Violates Utah HB374 legislation.
Language: R for 50 swears and 4 f-words.
Mature Content: PG-13 for underage drinking, implied gang rape, drug use, implied rape/assault, violation of Utah Legislation HB-374: touching genitalia.
Violence: PG-13 for homemade bomb description, missing girls, death by poisoning.
Ethnicity: Bonita is Black, Mateo is Latino and Stella is white.

You Won’t Believe Me by Cyn Balog

Posted on by lynndellwatson

Interesting ending!
17yo Willow wakes up chained to a bed in a house she doesn’t recognize. She doesn’t understand her circumstances or surroundings but her memories come back a little at a time. Her captor tells her the pandemic has gotten worse and created zombies and the only way they can stay safe is to stay away from the rest of civilization, if there’s anyone else alive. Willow goes along with it all until things don’t seem to be adding up. When Willow makes a few discoveries of her own, she becomes determined and desperate to escape.
Likes/dislikes: I enjoyed the details about the Everglades. This is a quick read book. The storyline is interesting, especially the ending.
Language: R for 62 swears and 1 f-word.
Mature Content: PG for kissing.
Violence: PG-13 for abduction, gaslighting, catfishing, bloody deaths, electric shock.

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

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Benji, born a girl, wants to be a boy (transgender), likes boys and is the Angel’s weapon to purge the Earth. Benji escapes and befriends the rebels becoming even more conflicted on top of identity struggles and dysphoria. Benji meets an LGBTQ+ group and joins the center keeping the fact of being a weapon a secret. Much violence takes place and loyalties are broken and built. A true mix of dystopian and horror.

Likes/dislikes: The book contains too much swearing. I struggled to follow the confusing circumstances because the author shoved a lot into one story. There’s too much going on to fall into the world and enjoy the storyline and it also kept me feeling distant from the characters. I do appreciate the author’s notes about the story’s origins and reasons and also content warnings. The made up pronoun, xem, added to the confusion.
Mature content: PG-13 for underage drinking, implied oral sex, abusive relationship.
Violence: R for bloody deaths and gore.
Language: R for 151 swears and 72 f-bombs.
Ethnicity: Benji is presumed white. The other ethnicities are quoted as “more non-white than white”.

The Moonlight Blade by Tessa Barbosa

Posted on by lynndellwatson

In Tigang, Narra wants her mother to stay home but she insists on going to the capital to confess that she kept her marked daughter alive even when the law stated she must die. Narra is the marked daughter because of the birthmarks on her neck, which people believe makes her cursed. Her mother is imprisoned and Narra enters the competition that takes place every ten years to find a new ruler. She wants to win the competition so she can rescue her mother. Narra enters the trials with no magic, no weapons and no help. It takes all of her willpower and wits to get through it all.

Likes/dislikes: The vocabulary in the world building and introduction of characters gets confusing but it makes more sense as the story goes on. The story felt disjointed because of the competition, the past lives and the magic not necessarily blending well together. I did like Narra, the main character, and her companions, Virian and Dayen, and how they worked together and helped each other.

Mature content: PG for brief kissing
Language: PG-13 for 19 swears and no f-bombs.
Violence: PG for cuts on palms of hands as a gift of blood to begin a ceremony and a nondescript beheading.
Ethnicity: The ethnicity is mixed with the following: olive skin, brown skin, deep russet skin, dark Tigangi skin, and dark brown skin.

Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder

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A deadly virus with stomach flu like symptoms but deadlier, ravages the country. This virus makes some people have zombie like tendencies.
One person transforms into a tentacled monster.
Another is a courtesan who has to shoot one of her customers because he’s transformed into a monster in front of her. She becomes educated by eating the brains of doctors and scientists and watches over the monsters.
The last main character becomes a breeding ground for tentacled creatures that will soon occupy Earth.
Weird, creepy, scary, gross, vulgar and in-your-face horror!

Gone Dark by Amanda Panitch

Posted on by lynndellwatson
Her survival skills might keep her alive!

Zara’s father is a survivalist that lives on a compound. Zara and her mother used to live on the compound too, until seven years ago. Now she lives with her mother and attends public school far away from her father’s compound. Her father’s survival lessons are drilled into Zara’s head and she replays them often. When there’s a widespread blackout, Zara uses her survival knowledge to get away from a strange man chasing her, to find her mother and to help her friends. As they travel looking for safety and to reach her father’s compound for protection, they come across a lot of danger and strange, sometimes creepy situations, cult communities, religious communities, families stealing supplies from them and people that will do anything for self preservation. Interesting, unique dystopian story, 4 stars!