Review: Insignia by S.J. Kincaid

Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: July 10, 2012
Rating: 4 stars

The earth is in the middle of WWIII in Insignia, the first entry in S. J. Kincaid's fast-paced sci-fi adventure trilogy perfect for fans of Ender's Game.

The planet's natural resources are almost gone, and war is being fought to control the assets of the solar system. The enemy is winning. The salvation may be Tom Raines. Tom doesn't seem like a hero. He's a short fourteen-year-old with bad skin. But he has the virtual-reality gaming skills that make him a phenom behind the controls of the battle drones.

As a new member of the Intrasolar Forces, Tom's life completely changes. Suddenly, he's someone important. He has new opportunities, friends, and a shot at having a girlfriend. But there's a price to pay. . . . (Goodreads)


I came to this series waaaaaaay late in the game but I really liked it. I was in desperate need of an audio book and I was also on the hunt for more books that I can recommend to my younger male patrons at the library so I decided to give it a listen. Not only is Tom and great and well defined main character, his friends are equally as well developed. His friends are all very different characters, but they fit perfectly with each other. It's the group of friends I always wished I could find and put together. While training to be combatants during WWIII Tom and his friends get into a bunch of mischief, but there are bigger problems to be dealt with as well. One of the instructors has it in for Tom, Tom also being to involve himself with the enemy, as well as commits other acts of treason.

Now, full confession, I audio booked this and I know that having an awesome audio book reader can make something that's not really great, seem great (such as the Stephanie Plum books, I'd never read them, but I'll listen to them for the rest of my life) but if nothing else, this book is easily suggestable to reluctant reader male children, and that's exactly what I was looking for.

But really guys, this is a great book. Action packed, and quick moving. Read it!!

Review: Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

Publisher: Macmillan
Publication Date: April 6, 2016
Rating: 2.5 stars

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She's a model daughter and sister, she's well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she's dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule. And now faces life-changing repercussions.
She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found FLAWED.
In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where obedience is paramount and rebellion is punished. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her-everything. (Goodreads)


I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.

I really wanted to like this book, I really did. From the description the book was a dystopian (which I like although I know some people are over it) and from the cover, the main character was a POC and being a POC myself, I really try hard to find characters that I can relate to on a physical level (particularly with all of this election foolishness). However, though I tried, I didn't like this book at all.

Celestine followed all of the rules of her society until she didn't, (MINI SPOILER BUT YOU SHOULD REALLY SEE THIS COMING FROM THE BOOK DESCRIPTION) and she's found Flawed. I must say, the part where Celestine is branded flawed is actually my favorite part of the book. Judge Craven is a pretty awesome and malicious villain, everything else, was less exciting. Celestine seeing a guy through the glass of her prison wall and although they never speak except for one line of his, she's obsessed with him, he's constantly on her mind. I didn't buy it. I'm honestly pretty forgiving with things like this, but not this time, the author wasn't convincing at all so it got to the point that every time she though about this guy I wanted to throw my tablet across the room. If all of that had been left out (or done) I think I would have liked the book more. The scenes with the reporter... great. The mom... weird but amusing. I also liked the Celestine's perfectionist personality is at times what makes her leader and hero for the flawed people. I can't say I was a big fan of Art though, he just felt like a flat character.

*sigh* I wanted to like this book, I really did, it just wasn't well done in my opinion.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Last Star by Rick Yancey

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

We’re here, then we’re gone, and that was true before they came. That’s always been true. The Others didn’t invent death; they just perfected it. Gave death a face to put back in our face, because they knew that was the only way to crush us. It won’t end on any continent or ocean, no mountain or plain, jungle or desert. It will end where it began, where it had been from the beginning, on the battlefield of the last beating human heart.

Master storyteller Rick Yancey invokes triumph, loss, and unrelenting action as the fate of the planet is decided in the conclusion to this epic series. 

~*~

Release Date: May 24, 2016

Although I thought the second book was just so, so. I can't wait for the last book!

Review: Monument 14: Sky on Fire

Trapped in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, including a monster hailstorm and terrifying chemical weapons spill, brothers Dean and Alex learned how to survive and worked together with twelve other kids to build a refuge from the chaos. But then strangers appeared, destroying their fragile peace, and bringing both fresh disaster and a glimmer of hope.

Knowing that the chemical weapons saturating the air outside will turn him into a bloodthirsty rage monster, Dean decides to stay in the safety of the store with Astrid and some of the younger kids. But their sanctuary has already been breached once. . . .

Meanwhile, Alex, determined to find their parents, heads out into the darkness and devastation with Niko and some others in a recently repaired school bus. If they can get to Denver International Airport, they might be evacuated to safety. But the outside world is even worse than they expected. . . 

Talk about a series that came out of no where. I had never heard of the Monument 14 books and I read through the second one like wildfire. It's so hard to say anything without spoilers, but I'm going to try. This book bounces between Alex's POV and Dean's. This book takes the kids through the world after the plant explosion where gangs of people have banded together to turn on each other. While reading the book it almost felt like the apocalypses. Neighborhood were abandoned,and people were in a complete state of panic. I loved reading about Alex and Dean's journey that I can't say much more about without spoilers, except if society falls apart tomorrow, I'm convinced I'll be just fine after all of the Dystopian books I've read!

Read the book people!

Review: This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Publisher: Harcourt Children’s Books

Publication Date: April 1, 2010

Rating: 3/5

It’s been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate. For Miranda Evans, life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce.

The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda’s father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda’s complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever. (Goodreads)

So, the first Pfeffer book was about how Miranda and her family were adjusting to the world tragedy that the movement of the moon caused, the second book was about how Alex and his family was adjusting. This third book takes place from Miranda’s POV, but Alex is there as well. Miranda and her family are continuing to do what they can to survive in their home. Her brothers leave to go catch fish to salt for the family and her older brother randomly comes back with a girl he’d met the previous day and claims in now his wife (this was my first problem). I just couldn’t get behind it… I honestly don’t know what else to say on that particular subject. Next Miranda’s father, step mother, and new baby brother show up with three more people, two of which being Alex and his sister Julie. That’s fine and dandy, but we don’t learn enough about that happened between the end of Alex’s book and the beginning of this one. They somehow made it to Carlos who told Alex to send Julie to a convent, and somehow met up with Miranda’s dad. That’s about all they give us. I guess I didn’t feel very satisfied. At first Miranda doesn’t care for Alex, then she kind of has a little crush on him (sort of…), then she’s in love with him and he’s in love with her. I promise you, that’s exactly how it happened. I obviously wasn’t a big fan. I gave the book three stars because I still like the idea of what the world would be like if a meteor truly did knock the moon closer to Earth, but in addition to liking a book that’s plot driven, I have to be able to connect to the characters, and sadly, I just don’t care that much about Alex and Miranda.

Waiting on Wednesday: Unleashed

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

Unleashed, the romantic, high-stakes sequel to New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan's Uninvited, is perfect for fans of James Patterson's Confessions of a Murder Suspect.

Davy has spent the last few months trying to come to terms with the fact that she tested positive for the kill gene HTS (also known as Homicidal Tendency Syndrome). She swore she would not let it change her, and that her DNA did not define her . . . but then she killed a man.
Now on the run, Davy must decide whether she'll be ruled by the kill gene or if she'll follow her heart and fight for her right to live free. But with her own potential for violence lying right beneath the surface, Davy doesn't even know if she can trust herself.

~*~

Release Date February 24, 2015 

Review: Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Pub Date: June 5, 2012

Format: Book

Source: Library

Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult

"Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart." (Goodreads)

3.9/ 4 Stars.

Teenagers and small children locked in something that's the equivalent of a Walmart as the world ends around them. If that's not the makings of a good story I'm not sure what is.

Having just finished this book, it's kind of similar to the Maze Runner (Minho I love you!!). The children are forced to do whatever they have to, to survive. They elect someone as the leader, and that leader provides tasks to the other occupants with the hopes that things run as smoothly as possible.

I like this book because I think there is a very well though out foundation for the rest of the story. The environment is in, what looks like mortal peril, and there were chemicals released into the air that will either drive you insane, or just flat out kill you. Poor kids.

Snaps to having actual children in the book. It reminds me or Michael Grants Gone, a situation that was already almost impossible to deal with, becomes that's much more complicated when there are six year old's to look after. I think it gives the book a realistic feel.

My only qualms about the book were some of the language choices. I feel we just missed the mark when it came to the dialect of the teens. I can't give you specifics, but something was just... off. I'd be mid page, and someone would say something, and I would think, "that doesn't sound right." It wasn't the biggest deal in the world, but alas, there it was.

I also found myself annoyed with Dean, maybe it's because I'm so tired of guys liking these pretty popular girls for superficial reasons, but it's cool because we made up for it with Niko's crush on Josie. Adorbs. I though the teens were portrayed very accurately. I work in a library on the youth floor, I spend my afternoons listening to teens talking to each other about anything and everything. Laybourne did a pretty good job creating these different personalities as frustrating as they were sometimes.

I liked the book, I'm going to read the second one, and I get the feeling my ratings of the book will increase as I read farther into the series.

Dangerous by Shannon Hale- Review

Maisie Danger Brown just wanted to get away from home for a bit, see something new. She never intended to fall in love. And she never imagined stumbling into a frightening plot that kills her friends and just might kill her, too. A plot that is already changing life on Earth as we know it. There's no going back. She is the only thing standing between danger and annihilation.

From NY Times bestselling author Shannon Hale comes a novel that asks, How far would you go to save the ones you love? And how far would you go to save everyone else? (goodreads.com)

I was approved to read this book through Netgalley and it's my first Shannon Hale book (I know, I'm kind of ashamed of me) and I wasn't disappointed. Right off the bat, two of my favorite aspects of this story were that Maisie is not only Hispanic, but she's missing an arm. There are a ton of posts about how there aren't enough minority protagonists, and how their aren't enough protagonist with disabilities, this book has both!

This is the second alien book I've read this year (the first was The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey), normally I avoid them like the plague because they never do it for me, I find it hard to suspend my disbelief most of the time, I had no problems with this book. I love that all of this began with Space Camp, although I will admit what I would have liked a bit more detail about the challenges there. Although Maisie isn't the type of character to let her disability slow her down, I feel like there had to have been difficulties completing the space camp challenges, but they were sort of glossed over.

The story with the aliens and the tokens were so cool, it reminded me of Captain Planet or something like that. I'll have to say that I'm on the fence about