End of Days Review: Penryn

Book: End of Days
Author: Susan Ee
Series: Penryn and the End of Days
Standing: Book 3 (final)
POV: 1st person by Penryn, present tense
Genre: YA post-apocaplytic, paranormal

Source: Physical Copy
Publisher: Skyscrape
Pages: 344
Release: May 12th, 2015

Goodreads  End of Days is the explosive conclusion to Susan Ee’s bestselling Penryn & the End of Days trilogy. After a daring escape from the angels, Penryn and Raffe are on the run. They’re both desperate to find a doctor who can reverse the twisted changes inflicted by the angels on Raffe and Penryn’s sister. As they set off in search of answers, a startling revelation about Raffe’s past unleashes dark forces that threaten them all. When the angels release an apocalyptic nightmare onto humans, both sides are set on a path toward war. As unlikely alliances form and strategies shift, who will emerge victorious? Forced to pick sides in the fight for control of the earthly realm, Raffe and Penryn must choose: Their own kind, or each other?

Firewalker Review: Lily

Book: Firewalker

Author: Josephine Angelini

Series: Worldwalker

Standing: Book 1 (ongoing)

POV: 3rd person by Lily, past tense

Setting: Salem, Massachusetts

Genre: YA fantasy, paranormal

Source: Physical Copy

Publisher: Feiwei & Friends

Pages: 352

Release: September 1st, 2015

Worlds divide, magic slays, and love lies in the second book of Josephine Angelini’s The Worldwalker Trilogy. "You think I’m a monster, but my choices, as ruthless as they seem, are justified." Lily is back in her own universe, and she's ready to start a new life with Rowan by her side. True, she almost died in the Pyre that fueled their escape from New Salem, and must hide her magic for the safety of everyone she cares about, but compared to fighting the Woven, the monstrous creatures inhabiting the alternate Salem, life is looking pretty good. Unfortunately, Lillian, ruthless ruler of the 13 Cities, is not willing to let Lily go that easily. If she can’t persuade Lily to return to her world, she will force her to come back by doing away with the ones she loves. Picking up right where Trial By Fire left off, Firewalker is another sexy, fast-paced, heartbreaking thrill ride from internationally bestselling author Josephine Angelini! (Goodreads)

Rivulet Review: Indie

Book: Rivulet

Author: Jamie Magee

Series: Rivulet / A Web of Hearts and Souls

Standing: Rivulet Book 1 / A Web of Hearts and Souls Book 11

POV: 1st person by Indie, past tense 

Genre: NA paranormal, mystery

Source: ebook, Netgallery

Publisher: Mark My Words Book Publicity

Pages: 212

Release: October 3rd, 2013

Unfathomable forces have always contested Genevieve Indiana Falcon, known as Indie. The curse of her cold touch entraps her just as the grief ignited in her past torments her. Yet, her mysterious ability to dream while awake saturates her in the belief that she was not always anguished. There is hope that one day a true peace in her soul can be found. Foolishly, Indie assumes she has contained her life in an odd balance, and she cherishes the visions she sees of the enigmatic boy that held her in a lost time, but can never reach. She grieves for a life she fears she'll never possess, and that grief is a weapon she uses against her aunt who stands between her and her inheritance. Weeks away from her twenty-first birthday, the date where she would assume control over her family legacy, a night terror robs Indie of the balance she was clinging to. Like the dream she had before she lost her family, it predicts a fatal catastrophe on the horizon. The fight between life and death, good and evil, began the moment her thundering heart awoke her. Everything changed after that dream. The one thing that keeps her curse at bay is stolen, and then the enigmatic boy arrives in the flesh. Face to face with her fiery born-again lover Indie realizes that the only way she can prevent the tragedy before her is to surrender everything she was, is, and could be. Can she bend the laws of nature and fight the improbability that fire and ice could ever be one? As far as Indie is concerned, there is not a myth, spoken fate, or curse that is stronger than her stubborn desire to have it all ... including him. (Goodreads)

The Rose Society Review: Adelina

Book: The Rose Society

Author: Marie Lu

Series: The Young Elites

Standing: Book 2 (ongoing)

POV: first person by Adelina and third person by Raffaele

Setting: Kenettra

Genre: YA fantasy

Source: Physical Copy

Pages: 395

Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons

Release: October 13th, 2015

Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all. Adelina Amouteru’s heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she and her sister flee Kenettra to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers who nearly killed her. But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good, when her very existence depends on darkness? (Goodreads)

Crown of Midnight Review: Celaena

Book: Crown of Midnight

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass

Standing: Book 2 (ongoing)

POV: third person by Celaena and Chaol and Dorian

Setting: Erilea

Genre: YA fantasy

Source: Physical Copy

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 418

Release: August 27th, 2013

"A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached. It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend." From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil. Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart. Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie... and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for. (Goodreads)

Faceless Review: Mackenzie

Book: Faceless

Author: Monica Millard

Series: Mortal Monsters

Standing: Book 1

POV: 1st person by Mackenzie, present tense

Setting: Wasilla, Alaska

Genre: YA paranormal

Source: ebook, author (thank you, Monica!)

Pages: 163

Release: September 1st, 2015

There isn’t a lot of excitement or drama to be had for a teenager in Wasilla, Alaska. This is especially true for students of the charter high school, Lakes Charter. That is until a jock is killed in a brutal attack on school property. The victim is the instigator of the school’s bullying ring and his biggest target, both literally at six and a half feet tall and in frequency, is Eli Markham, the lead suspect. The only problem with that story is at the time the murder took place, he was in the school parking lot installing a new battery with Mackenzie Carver. Me. I didn’t really know Eli before I gave him a ride. I don’t think anyone does know him. He’s kind of a loner, but we’ve been thrown together and the more time I spend with him, the more I want to learn. All of that will have to wait though, because something is after us, something that isn’t human, something that keeps trying to frame Eli for crimes he didn’t commit.  The scheme might be more successful if I didn’t keep getting in the way of someone’s plans. (Goodreads)

Rebel Spring Review

Book: Rebel Spring

Author: Morgan Rhodes

Series: Falling Kingdoms

Status: Book 2 (ongoing)

POV: 3rd person by Cleo, Jonas, Magnus and Lucia, past tense

Setting: Mytica

Genre: YA fantasy

Source: Physical Copy

Publisher: RazorBill

Pages: 401

Release: December 3rd, 2013

The road to power... is paved with blood and magic. Cleo is now a prisoner in her own palace, forced to be an ambassador for Mytica as the evil King Gaius lies to her people. Magnus stands to eventually inherit the new kingdom but is still obsessed with his feelings for his adopted sister, Lucia. Lucia is haunted by the outcome of the breathtaking display of magic that allowed her father to capture the kingdoms. Jonas watched at the palace gates a troop of rebels behind him, waiting for him to tell them how he plans to overtake King Gaius. After a bloody siege, Auranos has been defeated, its young queen orphaned and dethroned. The three kingdoms—Auranos, Limeros, and Paelsia—are now unwillingly united as one country called Mytica. But the allure of ancient, dangerous magic beckons still, and with it the chance to rule not just Mytica, but the whole world over... At the heart of the fray are four brave young people grappling for that magic and the power it promises. For Cleo, the magic would enable her to reclaim her royal seat. In Jonas's hands, it frees his nation, and in Lucia's, it fulfills the ancient prophecy of her destiny. And if the magic were Magnus's, he would finally prove his worth in the eyes of his cruel and scheming father, King Gaius, who rules Mytica with a punishing hand. When Gaius begins to build a road into the Forbidden Mountains to physically link all of Mytica, he sparks a long-smoking fire in the hearts of the people that will forever change the face of this land. For Gaius's road is paved with blood, and its construction will have cosmic consequences. (Goodreads)