IHeartYAFiction

Short and Sweet:Straightaway, let me say that this review is going to be one non-stop gushfest. I adore this series. I am sometimes worried with sequels of books that I love that maybe they won't live up to my anticipation and excitement, but Crown of Midnight was as gorgeously and brilliantly written as Throne of Glass if not more so. This story is as near to flawless as it gets. Entertaining, heart-breaking and emotion-shattering. So, so, SO amazing!To Elaborate....Celaena Sardothien is one of those characters who is so beautifully human in that she is both hard and soft. She isn't perfect, but she is this fierce, kick-ass girl who has been through a LOT and isn't broken. While she certainly is affected by her past, she is by no means controlled by it. Celaena has chosen what she'll be and she is awesome. In Crown of Midnight, Celaena is now the King's assassin as a step towards a future of freedom.... only she's not truly completing the tasks assigned to her. While her conscience is clean, she's constantly aware that saving the lives of the king's enemies by faking their deaths endangers not only herself, but also the lives of everyone she cares for. In fact, she is so aware of this danger that she allows Chaol, Dorian, and Nehemia to believe that she is offing her marks in order to protect them. However, the next name the king gives to her is someone from her past and she wonders if it is even possible to continue to fool the king AND keep everyone safe. Throughout the story nothing is as it seems and everyone seems to have some level of secrets, deceit, and/or agenda that they are attempting to keep hidden. As a result, there is new depth to each character and the storyline never gets tiring for even a moment. Reading Crown of Midnight is an experience of exciting discovery and just when you think you know everything there is to know another plot line takes a shocking turn towards something you'd never even considered. There are not many stories that have as many intriguing layers as those Sarah J. Maas weaves and even then not many that are done so well. If you haven't picked up Throne of Glass yet, you absolutely should. If you are anticipating the August 2013 release of Crown of Midnight you will definitely not be disappointed! Originally published @ iheartyafiction.blogspot.com

Short and Sweet:This was one of those books that the cover completely confused me. It just didn't seem to fit with the story. Similarly, the setting seems both historical and futuristic in some ways, but I think that worked for me because I could kind of overlay my perception onto the story. I actually really enjoyed the 'timelessness' aspect of Replica and would absolutely recommend it!To Elaborate...Replica was pretty different from what I usually read. However, I think this is exactly why I ended up enjoying it as much as I did. The pacing had me picking it up every time I had a spare 5 minutes and I was really interested in seeing what happened to Nadia and Nate. Replica also had a particularly despicable villain who I found myself very invested in seeing meet some sort of unfortunate end. What Replica does best is the slow build. This story just got more and more interesting until it exploded with information and action. Near the end, I couldn't even set it down to eat dinner. I had to know what was going to happen! The very last few pages blew my mind again. Just so good!!!I have to say that while I didn't feel as connected to the characters as I do some of my favorite books, I did feel super entertained. I think Replica would make a great action/murder-mystery movie. Jenna Black is an amazing story teller! :) Originally published @ iheartyafiction.blogspot.com

Short and Sweet: Oh my goodness was this an amazing sequel! I think it was even better than The Darkest Minds (which was crazy, awesome)!!! The only downside is how long I'll be waiting for the 3rd book!To Elaborate....Never Fade begins with a picture of Ruby's new life working for the Children's League. She is now part of a team that goes out on dangerous missions to retrieve information, agents, and even detain a few enemies now and then. Ruby uses her gift to extract information for Alban, the Children's League leader, although she doesn't always feel comfortable doing so. However, the 'agent' she retrieves on one particular mission blows her mind and leaves her more confused about her decision to work for the Children's League than ever before.We are also introduced to several new characters including my personal favorite, Vida, who is a snarky, foul mouthed, sarcastic goddess of wit. I adored her. We also meet Jude who is a sweet, easy to like kid who I felt immediately invested in. Even Cate, who returns from The Darkest Minds, will win the reader over with more emotional and intellectual depth than we see from her in the first installment of this amazing series. As the story progresses Ruby runs into some familiar faces and must make some extremely tough decisions. Should she remain with those from her past and live a life on the run? Or risk losing everyone she loves in order to do the right thing? Ruby has to determine what exactly the 'right thing' is as she questions the motives and truthfulness of those around her. She also has to decide once and for all how she feels about herself and her growing capabilities.Alexandra Bracken is an amazing, intelligent, clever and incredibly witty story teller and I look forward to reading whatever this woman writes next! A definite must-read series for 2013!Giveaway on my blog for this title through July! (Originally posted @ iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet: I so enjoyed The Testing! I couldn't put it down. This story was so well written, thoughtful and full of suspense. Another wonderful 2013 read!To Elaborate....All of her life, Cia has looked up to her father, a previous successful Testing candidate and aspired to follow in his footsteps. However, the night before she leaves her father confides in her that the Testing is not at all what she has imagined. In fact, what she will soon experience has left him with a wiped memory and haunting nightmares. He tells her to 'trust no one.''Trusting no one' turns out to be horrifyingly accurate advice. With the possible (ha! no spoilers here, people!) exception of Tomas, a boy whom she has grown up with, the other testing candidates are desperate, ruthless and willing to do whatever it takes to make it as a future United Commonwealth leader. As she advances through each stage of the Testing it becomes more and more clear that she will be lucky to make it through alive. Nothing is what it seems and even within the obvious tests are more intricate evaluations that are unspoken of, unknown and unfortunately easy to fail.Cia must learn to trust her own intuition and often takes huge risks in doing so. She is an incredibly likable character in a beautifully executed story. Definitely pick this one up!P.S. I do want to address that there have been some comparisons between The Testing and some other well known dystopian stories. My opinion is that there are always similarities within this sub-genre. However, my experience reading The Testing did not warrant enough similarities for me to agree with this assessment of the story. I felt it was a unique and engaging book and I would be sad if anyone passed up a great read as a result of those comparisons.(Originally published @ www.iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet:Reboot is awesome. Wren is so kick-ass. Callum is hilarious. What's not to love here? Amazing, fast-paced and so entertaining! To Elaborate....I began Reboot with HIGH expectations and I was not for one moment disappointed. I found the world as well as the characters extremely interesting. Wren especially! For a character 'lacking' in emotion she is written so well that the emotion she does feel is alarmingly powerful. Callum is perfectly placed in Reboot. His voice and sense of humor balances Wren's and I enjoyed the dynamic between the two of them. Callum brings Wren's humanity back one unexpected, accidental smile or laugh at a time and it is really a beautiful love story set within a dark and flawlessly painted world. This book has also restored my interest in dystopian stories! Yay! No more dystopian fatigue! I just hope the next one I pick up can live up to the wonderful experience of reading Reboot!(Originally published @iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet:*sigh* Intuition was insane.... in a good way. There was so much going on in this book. SO many twists and turns. It was non-stop! I liked Transcendence a LOT, but I adored Intuition. :)To Elaborate....Intuition jumped off running from where Transcendence left off. In fact one of the major plot points is something I can't talk about without spoiling Transcendence! SO, SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ TRANSCENDENCE. Okay, still with me? Drew. This guy made me feel so confused. It was crazy making. One minute I liked him, the next I didn't. I think in this respect C.J. Omololu is a complete freaking genius. Well done, madam. I felt ALL the feels.Also, this is how I pictured Drew because he reminded me of Logan from Gilmore Girls. I didn't hate it. ;) However, I was also super annoyed at Griffon who is being stupidly 'heroic' in the most obnoxiously misguided way. BUT, this makes sense later in the story. Cole herself is just having a bad couple of weeks here. It's kind of an everything that can go wrong does period of time for her. But I loved where she arrived emotionally in the end. I respect when a girl comes out of a love triangle with her priorities straight and Cole definitely does.Lastly, what a creeptastic ending! As I was reading this 'thing that I cannot speak of' I realized my whole body hurt from being tense. I was freaked. What an agonizingly interesting jumping off point for the next book!!!!! Can't wait! :)(Originally published @iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet:Transcendence started a little slow for me, but I ended up really loving Griffon and Cole. I also loved the unique take on past lives and the fact that the author didn't try to answer all of the accompanying spiritual questions. :) I loved the resulting mysteriousness and look forward to the next book!To Elaborate....Cole has been having vivid visions of moments that happened long ago. She had hoped that they would just go away, but after an intense trip to London where her visions coincided with her actual location she begins to feel like she might just be crazy. Enter Griffon, a boy who seems to have all of the answers and lets her know that she's actually an Akhet (a rare person who remembers her previous lives/memories). At first she'd almost rather believe she's crazy, but as her visions intensify she realizes she needs answers.Just when Cole relaxes a bit into an exciting relationship with Griffon, mysterious accidents start happening around another Akhet in her life, Veronique. Griffon feels there must be some connection between her and Veronique in a previous life and fears that if Cole isn't careful she'll end up the victim of revenge at the hands of this rogue Akhet. But Cole goes a little rogue herself trying to figure out their past life connection on her own.Meanwhile.... Griffon isn't telling Cole everything and what she discovers shatters everything she thought she knew and the delicate trust between them.Transcendence was a joy to read. I can't wait to read Intuition! (Originally posted @iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet:Some Quiet Place was so unlike anything I've read both in tone and plot that at first I wasn't sure what to make of it. However, as the pages flew by I found myself intrigued and very much enjoying it! To Elaborate....Elizabeth is a strange narrator to spend time with. She feels nothing, but sees emotions personified. Once you get used to this aspect of the story, it gets very interesting. For example, Fear is fascinated by Elizabeth and tries to use his touch to stir some emotion in her. In his attempt to do so Fear can make her see and experience whatever terrifying scene he desires, but Elizabeth never experiences 'fear' the way any other human being would. He has never encountered anyone like her and can't quite believe that she is sincere. Of course his fascination with her doesn't end there...... ;)Elizabeth has adapted by keeping mostly to herself, but the people in her life, including her family, still sense her unnaturalness. All of Elizabeth's interactions with other people involve being able to SEE whatever emotions they are currently dealing with. Which means she knows exactly how any given person feels whether she wants to or not. This actually turns out to be helpful since it guides her in how to respond appropriately to people when they do speak to her.I enjoyed the descriptions and personalities of the emotions in this story. I loved the mystery of Elizabeth's past and I adored Fear as a character. I thought the mystery of the story unfolded at a good pace and the ending was unpredictable and wonderful. Kelsey Sutton is an amazing story teller! (Originally posted @ iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet: The Sweetest Dark was thoroughly enjoyable. There wasn't a moment during all 352 pages that I was bored or uninterested. Lora is a strong, likeable character and the story itself is just so well written. I am now a huge fan of Shana Abe and have the sequel right on the top of my to-be-read pile!To Elaborate....Lora has endured a lot in her life. From an early age she's heard voices and songs no one else can hear. However, she no longer speaks of it..... not since her awful, traumatic time in psychiatric care. Lora has grown up in an orphanage and due to the dangerousness of city life during the war, gets transferred to Iverson as a charity student. Iverson is a fancy, all girls, boarding school and Lora's chance to leave a place full of unhappiness.Her train to Iverson gets in late and after momentarily panicking when it appears no one has come for her, she asks a young aristocrat to give her a ride. It turns out he is the Duke's son, Armand. But before he can answer, her ride arrives and she is swept off to the gorgeous estate at Iverson where she meets Jesse, the groundskeeper and experiences a strange sensation when her hand brushes his.I have to say, that when a love triangle is done right, I'm all for it. This one is full of the perfect amount of tension. Armand is a 'Mr.Darcy' sort of character. Brooding and lonely, but intense and interesting. This man can't take his eyes off of Lora. Jesse is just this gorgeous, sweet, straightforward character. Plus he mysteriously has answers to her own dark mysteries. Jesse is hard not to love. Lora handles herself very well throughout the story, with an equal focus on her own struggles. I like that while she does get caught up in romance a bit, she can also take care of herself just fine.Overall, The Sweetest Dark is a fresh, exciting story. Shana Abe is an amazing author and I look forward to whatever she does from here on out. :) I would recommend this to fans of Grave Mercy, Throne of Glass, and Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle series! (Originally posted @ iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet:Such a cool, cool book. I LOVED the characters. Loved them. They were so real, and wonderful: I felt what they were feeling. Believable to the point of missing them when I turned the final page! Easy, easy, easy 5 star rating!To Elaborate....From the very first page I was loving this book. Ruby's back story is just vibrantly emotional and heartbreaking. I was immediately interested and invested in her. It also doesn't take long for the action to begin in this one and once it does it never lets up. The struggles the characters face and the world they live in are all at once terrifying and heartbreaking. This is a world where these misunderstood children are dehumanized and cast off to what are essentially prisons and forgotten about by the world as a whole. The government pretends to be rehabilitating these 'dangerous' tiny citizens, but in reality they have a much darker plan for the most powerful among them and keep the remaining children detained and controlled through a mix of intimidation and bullying. Reading The Darkest Minds was much like watching a fast-paced thriller movie. Every time you thought you had a minute to catch your breath some new (or old) threat would present itself. It was literally unputdownable and a standout read among it's peers. The ending is so unexpected and badass that Never Fade (The Darkest Minds, Bk 2) is now one of my most anticipated fall 2013 reads! Originally posted @ iheartyafiction.blogspot.com

Short and Sweet: Altered was amazing right from the beginning. The dynamic between the 'altered boys' and between the guys and Anna is super interesting and readable. I devoured this book in hours and now have to wait for 2014 to read the next book!!! Argh!To Elaborate....Anna has got herself a little crush on one of the boys, Sam, in her Dad's lab. In fact, she sneaks downstairs nearly every night just to spend a few moments with him, even though he has no idea how she feels. The boys in the basement are a huge mystery. They don't remember who they are and they have been altered to be above average in intelligence and strength. During the day they are pretty much Anna's life. She helps out in the lab and wonders about who the boys used to be and what their purpose will be when they are 'ready to leave' the experiment.Very quickly in the story the Branch, the organization in charge of 'altering,' decides to remove them from study. But neither Anna nor the Branch anticipate what Sam is truly capable of. After Sam kills a room full of agents who have come to abduct them, Anna's father sends her with the boys and tells her that it is no longer safe to contact him. He gives them an address where they can be safe, but when they arrive Anna discovers something that leaves her with questions about her own identity and past.While on the run Anna discovers that the life she has been living is full of holes and mysteries that she had never thought to question. What is her connection to the altered boys? Why did her dad send her with them? And just who can she trust when her whole world has been thrown into chaos?I LOVED this book! I want Erased now!!!! :) (Originally posted @ iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet: Black City is essentially a vampire dystopian story, but runs a little deeper than most of it's kind. I really enjoyed the questions Black City poses about humanity throughout the story and the realistic struggles we see the characters endure.To Elaborate....Natalie and Ash meet one night under a bridge while he is 'dealing haze' (sinking his fangs into a human who wants a high from his Darkling venom). They both feel some spark in each other's presence, but in Ash's case he feels a bit more: a heartbeat for the first time in his life. He initially believes that he had imagined it, but each time he is near to her he feels the impossible: life where there was previously none. This aspect of the story: the 'why' and 'how' of this development is really intriguing! But I won't spoil it for you. ;)Black City is told in alternating points of view between Ash and Natalie. We see that from her end there is an unexplainable attraction as well as frustration with herself and him for what he is (a half-blood Darkling and part of a race that murdered her father) and what he does: deal 'drugs.' Also, a relationship between them is forbidden, illegal, and punishable by death. To complicate things further, Natalie is the daughter of the the Emissary, a cold and driven woman running awful experiments on Darklings. Naturally, Ash struggles with Natalie's identity as a result of her connection to her mother. There is definitely a 'star-crossed' aspect to their interest in one another.Black City is an interesting and complex story. The characters are put into situations where we see real conflicts that we can all connect to:What happens when we misjudge a person? Is breaking the rules always bad?Are those who are different from us dangerous/bad/undesirable?Black City painted an emotionally moving picture of a power-hungry, corrupt government, an oppressed and segregated group of citizens and what happens when a few ordinary people push back and stand up for what they believe in. Just really well done. :) I'm looking forward to the next book, Phoenix, due out next month! (Originally posted @ iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet: Venom is definitely one of those books I thought I would like much better than I did. It wasn't a bad story, just not a very compelling one at times. I didn't feel drawn into the story until I was halfway into it. Although, it was beautifully written, it just didn't blow me away.To Elaborate....Let's start with the good: Venom is a gorgeous story to live in for awhile. The descriptive language transports you to Venice. I could imagine everything vividly. This aspect of the story is truely breathtaking and unique. However, I connected more with secondary characters than I did Cass or Falco. From the beginning of the story we know that Cass is engaged to Luca, but that she is not overly happy about it. While she admits that it isn't a bad match, she simply doesn't know him very well and therefore isn't very interested in him. Okay.... but she also doesn't try to get to know him, which I found disappointing, as I was interested in him as a character. Also, Falco, her forbidden love interest, is clearly meant to be interesting and mysterious, but I never found myself truly rooting for him. In fact, I wished that the relationship would encounter problems and that she would have a renewed interest in Luca.Lastly, most of the action (which is actually very interesting and intriguing) happens in the very end of a fairly lengthy book. This is not necessarily a negative for me, but as a result, it did require a degree of determination to get to the end. Overall, a good read, but I'm more interested in the sequel than I was the first 200+ pages of Venom itself. I would only recommend this one to those with a bit of patience who don't mind a slow burn kind of story. (Originally published @ iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet: This one has a LOT happening at all times. 'Organized chaos' is the best way to describe it. At first I felt a little overwhelmed by this, but after awhile I thought it was exactly the right tone for the world presented in The Uprising. This was a great sequel leading up to what looks to be an even better 3rd book in this series.To Elaborate....The Uprising picks up right where The Forsaken left off. Alenna and Liam have had a small amount of peace and relative safety since being rescued from the wheel. However, that quickly comes to a violent end and from here on out the story is non-stop running from the corrupt and murderous government that wants to control or destroy them. Throughout the story, the UNA's attempts to end the rebellion (and the people who occupy it) seemed endless. There is hardly a moment of catching your breath before the characters are once again under attack. It literally created the emotional equivalent to going for a 30 minute run, having a 2 minute rest, running another 45 minutes for a 1 minute rest, etc. As a reader, this is good and bad in my opinion. On the one hand you are reading something that is truly emotion invoking. This is a emotionally depressive world. You feel the oppression and desperateness of the characters. On the other hand there are very few 'come-down' moments to prepare you for the next big revelation or discovery. Honestly, sometimes I enjoyed this aspect and other times I didn't.Also, although Alenna's constant awareness of never being safe and readiness for what might come next really translates into a good book tension, as a character she was pretty one note at times. Examples: 'I don't want to be away from Liam.' 'I hope David is okay/I hope David is trustworthy.' 'Where is my mom?' Okay, so that's 3 notes, but it was a little repetitive for my taste. Especially when there are so many other great aspects to her character that were visible, but not played up: She's brave, caring, empathetic, forgiving, socially aware, fights for what she believes in, etc. It's just usually when she has a voice it's to express those 3 thoughts. Overall, I enjoyed The Uprising. I like it as a whole. (I thought the ending was fantastic!) I think it was missing a little something that I enjoyed in The Forsaken, but still a solid read. I can't wait to see what happens next!(Originally posted @iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet:In the After had my heart pounding from the first page. This story is a fresh take on the monsters that occupy a fallen world. Ms. Lunetta does a fine job of world building. I always dislike when a book overdoes 'explaining' instead of 'showing' what is happening: not a problem here. :) In the After has an amazing and terrifying atmosphere that unfolds at just the right pace.To Elaborate....Amy was 14 when the world was taken over by horrific, man-eating creatures. Neither of her parents were home when 'it' happened and she has been incredibly lucky to survive at all. In order to do so she has adapted to truly horrific circumstances.Unlike most apocalyptic stories of it's kind, In the After presents a world that is not safe during the day. If you want to remain alive you must venture out into the darkness (where you aren't much safer than during the daylight) and scavenge what is left behind. But if you make a noise you are dead. Once you are spotted there is no escaping.What In the After does best is create suspense. I was tense for the majority the story. The only real downside for me was the middle. There is a 'switching back and forth in time' aspect that was interesting, but unlike the first (and in my opinion better) part of the story a bit slow. However, it picks back up and leaves off on a very interesting note that makes the next book in this series a must read for me! :) If you're burned out on dystopian reads, I suggest giving this one a try! I really enjoyed it. :) (Originally published @ iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)

Short and Sweet:Hemlock was simply put: entertaining. I loved the characters and the story. I put this at the top of my tbr pile after Jen Ryland @ YA Romantics made a Veronica Mars reference and I totally loved how right she was. If you are not a fan of werewolf stories don't worry, I'm not either, but this one is a great book first and a werewolf book second! Don't skip it!To Elaborate....Mackenzie or 'Mac' is mourning the recent death of her friend Amy who was brutally murdered by a werewolf, but she's also losing her best friends. Kyle to a girl and Amy's boyfriend Jason to his grief. She's also having strangely realistic dreams of Amy who seems to be trying to tell her something. So Mac decides to find the werewolf who killed her in hopes of finding peace for herself and Amy, as well as to keep Kyle from leaving town and stop Jason from joining an extreme werewolf-hating cult-like group called the Trackers. AND yes, there is a love triangle here, but even Mac pokes fun at it, which somehow makes it work. :)As Mac navigates her investigation she finds that nobody seems to be telling the whole truth and even those she trusts the most are keeping shocking secrets. Can she find out the truth and save her friends before she meets the same fate as Amy?I highly recommend Hemlock to lovers of great YA! Read it before the sequel Thornhill comes out this fall! (Originally published @ iheartyafiction.blogspot.com)