Portal 24 by Meredith Stroud Review

3/5 Stars 240 pages
Published September 5th 2013 by Hot Key Books

With a beautiful and very mysterious cover, Portal 24 is the first book I’ve read by author Meredith Stroud. Though it wasn’t my absolute favourite book, it also wasn’t something I completely disliked. I would love to check out some of her other stories in the future to see if there’s something that would be more fitting for me personally.

Following a team of young people, though I’m not exactly sure of their ages, they live life as time travelers trying to save the world. I picked this book because I love science fiction like that, and i thought it would be nice to read a new time travel book, since I haven’t in a while. The story begins with Darius, a young man who has to hustle to survive in his life. With no parents, he relies on friends to have his back and help him trick money from people he deems bad, so it doesn’t seem like the crime it is. He has a girlfriend, and is mostly content with his life. That is, until a stranger shows up.

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She tells him she needs his help, and if he doesn’t come with her, his girlfriend and everyone he knows won’t exist anymore. She talks about this wild topic of time travel, which he’s reluctant to believe, like anyone would be. But he’s not willing to risk anyone’s lives. He goes with her, and is introduced to his new life and his new family.

Though this was an exciting and action packed book,  it just wasn’t what I had hoped for. I was thinking there would be many adventures, and even though I’m not disappointed by that, I was really hoping for a little more insight into their world and how everything works. I don’t really feel like I know any of the characters very well, or the world that they’ve been adopted into through the corporation that employs and takes care of them, even though I feel like I spent a good amount of time with them throughout this book.

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Overall, it wasn’t a bad read, but it wasn’t my new favourite thing in the world. I don’t feel like I wasted any time reading this book, and I’m looking forward to checking out more from the author in the future to see what they’re all about. I would recommend this book to people who like young adult books about time travel, that are more action packed and gory than anything else.

If you’d like to get a copy for yourself, you can grab one here.

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what your thoughts about this book are if you’ve checked it out, or if you’re just wondering about it. Stay safe, and have a great day!

Keeper of the Bees (Black Bird of the Gallows #2) by Meg Kassel Review

5/5 Stars 304 pages
Published September 4th 2018 by Entangled: Teen

Keeper of the Bee’s is a book that I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with, but I did. Though I haven’t read anything by author Meg Kassel before, I’m very much interested in checking out more in the future! This is just one of those books I haven’t stopped thinking about since I read it, and I’m glad. And not in the way that something’s missing, just thinking back and appreciating it.

 

Though the character of a boy full of bees isn’t a brand new idea, it is something that I don’t read about hardly ever, especially when he’s basically immortal, lonely, a murderer, and just looking for a direction in life other than killing. The other main character in this book, who the viewpoint rotates to throughout the book, is a young girl who suffers from a mental illness like schizophrenia, but isn’t. She and the other women in her family just call it a curse, as it affects a lot of them. It’s draining, but she knows what she needs to do to keep it mostly under control, and that is chewing on peppercorns to cut through the hallucinations. However, when she meets the boy full of bees with the face that won’t make up it’s mind, the peppercorns just don’t cut it.

 

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Though this book is part of a series that I haven’t been caught up in, it was an amazing standalone novel as well, and I loved every minute of it. I’d love to check out the other book as well. My only complain I have about it, is that it always seems really weird and kind of makes me uncomfortable when an immortal man who looks like a young man, begins a relationship with a teenage girl. Wouldn’t that just be a really old man who looks young dating a teen girl?

 

The story follows the two as they have to face their problems, learn to love despite those problems, and also save the entire town from crazy mythological beings that bring death everywhere they go. I thought it was really unique, and it was something I really enjoyed getting to learn everything about. I didn’t have any questions that weren’t answered by the end of the book, and that’s just how I like it. I couldn’t get enough of it.

 

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Overall, this is a book that I won’t forget about anytime soon. Though I read it over a month ago, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, and would love to get a physical copy for my bookshelf just to have and read whenever the mood strikes. I recommend checking it out if you like cute love stories about accepting your partner no matter what their problems are, and however magical they are, which is mixed with murder, mystery, and fantastic creatures that I’ve never even imagined before.

 

If you’d like to get a copy for yourself, you can grab one here.

Here’s a link to the author’s Twitter, if you’d like to keep up with them.

Thanks for reading! If you have any thoughts about this book, I’d love to chat with you in the comments! Hope you’re doing good, and staying safe. Have a great day!

Failsafe (Failsafe #1) by Anela Deen Review

5/5 Stars 200 pages
Published May 20th 2018 by Fine Fables Press

This book, unlike the last book, was something that was right up my alley, and something I knew I was going to love from the moment I started it. In a time where humans haven’t lived outside a computer for many, many generations, their world is claustrophobic and dangerous. Outside of their settlements live drones that shoot to kill on site, and although they can grow their own food, they can barely grow enough for everyone, especially now when the supplies have stopped being delivered.

 

Sol is different, however. Though she has epilepsy, she doesn’t let that stop her from changing the world that they know, and trying to save everyone she know, and more. She’s not afraid of going out into the Interspace, and her unique dreaming ability lets her know where and when the drones are going to be around, and where the supplies should be. But this comes with a cost to her health, both physical and mental.

 

Though she lives in a time where people aren’t able to chose their mates due to the very little genetic differences between everyone in their settlement, everything changes when she meets Echo one day while out on a supply run. Though he’s not like anyone she’s ever met, and she’s a little scared to trust him at first, he proves himself to be an

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amazing and very strong companion. The two will do whatever they need to do to change the world as they know it.

 

This book was exciting and interesting, and it was everything I wanted it to be and more. Though I wanted there to be a sequel, I think that it ended at such a place where I’m happy if there isn’t ever one. The characters and the story were both really easy to imagine and get sucked into, and though this doesn’t happen very often, I don’t have any questions or complaints or even thoughts leftover that I’m wondering about. In my eyes, this was a perfect book to get me out of my reading slump, and I think it’s something that I’d love to read again and again, that’s just how much I loved it.

 

If you love stories about young adults who want to change the world, no matter how different it is from out own, then you’re going to love this, and I hope you love it as much as I do. Definitely check it out if you get the chance, and it’ll make a beautiful addition to your collection! I’d love to check out other books by the author because of this one.

 

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here.

Here’s a link to the author’s Twitter, if you’d like to keep up with them!

 

Thanks for reading! I’d love to chat in the comments if you have anything you’d like to talk about, this book or any other topic! Hope you have a good day, and stay safe!

 

**I’ve been informed by the author that there will in fact be a sequel!** Patiently awaiting that.