The ‘Naturals Season One: Awakening Episodes 1-4 by Robin Parrish, Melody Carlson, Aaron M. Patterson, and K.C. Neal Review

4/5 Stars 49 pages
Published October 14th 2012 by StoneHouse Ink

I’m not very familiar with stories like these, ones that come out four chapters at a time every three weeks and categorize themselves as episodes and seasons like a tv show, but now that I know about it, I’m honestly kind of into it. Something strange is going on in Silverwood.

Not a lot happens in this book, which is why normally I wouldn’t enjoy it. We’re introduced to each of the four main characters, in the third person viewpoint, a chapter at a time. If we’re classifying it as a novella, I would say I didn’t like it. But because it’s episodes, I think we got to know a lot for a first to fourth episode. And I’m intrigued, I can’t wait to get my hands on the next set.

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Four different authors crafted this, but you can’t really tell between their writing styles. It all fits together really well. Someone new is moving into the mansions in her town, and Avery isn’t happy about it. That being said, she doesn’t really want to like her new neighbour, but is very interested in him. Marshall sometimes feels like there’s someone else in his dreams with him. He feels lack luster in his life beside his interesting friends. Hailey is an intimidating soccer player with a drunk mom. And finally, Israel, an abused boy with extra thick blood who moves around a lot.

This book was over long before I wanted it to be, and I devoured it in about half an hour. I can’t wait to check out more, and I think that people who like books about teens with strange powers would really enjoy reading this book too.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here, through my Amazon Associates link.

And if you’d like to keep up with some of the authors, you can here and here!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe.

Resist (Breathe #2) by Sarah Crossan Review

4/5 Stars 368 pages
Published October 8th 2013 by Greenwillow Books

Can you believe that I read the first book to this duo over five years ago? Because I can’t. That being said, I did kind of forget what the whole thing was about, but that didn’t stop me from deep diving into this one. By the end of the book, I was all caught up, and remembered probably half of the other one. That’s not important, though. I really need to keep up with my books and remember to finish things like these before it gets to be too long. That being said, I really enjoyed reading this sequel to Breathe.

Following the same characters from the first book, we see Alina, Bea, Quinn and Ronan’s lives as they try to keep on living after The Grove has been nuked, and most of the characters have been pushed out of the life saving pod, one of the only places with air in their known world. But it’s still run by a corrupt minister and his men, who segregate the rich from the poor, and divide the available air accordingly.

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When the book begins, Alina and her friends are on a boat with some drifters that she’s met in the last story, and made a team with. They’re determined to get to Sequoia before their air tanks run out, though some of them are very sceptical, and one in particular ends her life because she feels so hopeless about the subject. They think that they’re the only ones left of their group. Bea, Quinn and Jazz are doing the same, but injured and hiding in the ruins. Ronan is back in the pod after the rebellion, his mind made up completely differently than his sisters, and that causes a lot of friction. Either way, all the characters are in very different situations, each thinking that they’re the only ones left.

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Action packed, rebellious and a struggle to survive, the characters go through horrifying things from forced pairings to war, and even torture. Some of the things I couldn’t believe were happening, that characters could be so evil, but it was so nice to finally reach the end of the book and see what happened in the end. Though this book took a day longer than it usually would take me to read a book of this size, that wasn’t because of the story. Once I was in, I was in, and I didn’t want to put it down.

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If you’re looking for a book about strong teenagers just trying to save the world no matter what their individual beliefs are, then this is the book for you. I love the post apocalyptic world with no air that they live in, because it’s a lot more unique than other post apocalyptic books I’ve read. I never had thought about the possibility of a world without plants or air, but now I have a clear picture in my mind. If you haven’t checked out the first book, I recommend that as well before this one.

Here’s a link to where you can grab a copy for yourself, if you’d like to, through my Amazon Associates.

If you’d like to keep up with the author, you can do so here.

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe. As always, I’m down to chat about this book and whatever else you’d like to talk about in the comments.

Girl Minus X by Anne Stone Review

5/5 Stars 296 pages
Published October 6th 2020 by Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd

If you’ve read one of my recent blog posts about the horror genre, you’ll know that I have an overactive imagination, whether that’s from anxiety or not, this book really dug it’s way into my brain because of that. The horrifying scenes in this book, just vaguely described as a past trauma, are things that have stuck with me, and I think are so much worse than could have been created in a horror movie. This is just one of the reasons why I loved this book so much. Though it’s torture to be able to imagine those scenes so vividly, I was helplessly addicted to this book, and I couldn’t put it down until it was finished.

Following two young girls, Dany (15) and Mac (5), we see their lives as they battle not only past trauma, but also present day trauma due to being removed from their only family, living in a house where they can’t keep up the bills and are forced to have them shut off, slowly starving to death on basic necessities from the depleted food bank, and a very interesting kind of virus plucking people away from them, and changing the world as they know it very quickly. Two very gifted girls, one mute, who have to keep quiet about their problems so that they’re not sent back to the very trauma they once escaped from.

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This book isn’t just about a virus that causes people to forget everything they know, even how to be a person, it’s about forcing old traumas up and out into the open where they don’t want to be seen. Though Dany just wants to forget about everything that’s happened to her sister, whether it’s their missing father, their mother who succumbed to the virus, their lives at both a bad foster home and a work farm, and now with their aunt being taken away to a prison camp to take care of the infected people, it’s very hard to when everything is being forced up. She has to learn to deal with it so that she can prepare for future traumas due to the virus that’s taking over her city.

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I don’t think there was a single part of this book I didn’t enjoy. Some of it I will admit was very hard to read, specifically the past trauma parts of Dany’s brain, but it was so addicting that I couldn’t stop. It was horrifying and scary and really sad all at the same time, but it also taught me a lot of things about her. Why she’s so shut off from the world, and why she’s so tough. Why she’s willing to do the things she must to protect her little sister. I wouldn’t change a single thing in this book, and I can’t wait to get myself a paper copy so I can re read it.

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If you love books about a different kind of infection induced apocalypse, like zombies but self destructive rather than the regular zombie kind of destructive, and you don’t mind pushing through the hard parts if it’ll teach you something, then this is the book for you. It’s horrifying and amazing and I’ll never forget it. I really can’t stress enough how much I loved this book, that’s why it took me some extra days to read through it because I could have easily just finished it quickly, but I wanted to drag it out so it wasn’t over so soon. This book makes me want to read more from the author.

If you’d like to grab a copy for yourself, I’ve added my Amazon Associates link here!

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can keep up with them on Twitter here!

Thanks for reading! I hope you’re doing well and staying safe.

Echoes of Darkness (Echoes Trilogy #2) by Cheryl Campbell Review

5/5 Stars 384 pages
Published October 5th 2020 by Smith Publicity

If you read my last review, I read the first book in the series, Echoes of War, in like less than 24 hours. This book was no exception to that as I also finished it in the same amount of time. I just can’t get enough of the trilogy, and I can’t wait for the last book, even though it comes out next year. I really haven’t stopped thinking about them since I started them, and I’m excited to see them nicely sitting together on my bookshelf with the rest of my favourites.

Following Dani, Brody, Oliver, Mary, Miles and Hattie, along with all the other characters that we’ve grown to love (and hate) throughout these two books, it shows their lives in third person, jumping to and from each of them when needed to give the story the sides you need to see to really put it all together. I gladly started this book less than half an hour after finishing the first one. I was very thankful to have the second book ready to go, as that doesn’t happen very often with me. As you might know, I’m really bad for leaving multiple books in a series to sit for months or even years after I read one, and I want to change that.

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We get to see their lives not long after the first book ended, with Dani and Mary and another character on a supply run. However, things don’t go as expected. They’re blown off the road by a group of Wardens and their insane tech, and have to be rescued by Gavin and his team, as well as Miles. Though this book isn’t as action packed as the first book in the first half, the second half is total destruction, and that’s what I love about this trilogy. The characters are everything I want from them and more, and there’s really never a dull moment, even when they’re simply training, or interacting with each other. I think my favourite might be Oliver, or maybe Hattie, aside from Dani of course.

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So in the last one, we saw the armies, one military and one scavenger, come together and take back Portland, and set their eyes on Boston next, even though it’s pretty far from them, and there’s a whole other area between them. But Dani knows what she needs, especially when things take a turn for the worse, and a kidnapping takes place that forces her hand. I loved the amount of work that was written into the story, not only from Dani, but the rest of the team as well, and the life that was woven in between the annihilation that happens. It really sucked me into the story, and I knew once I picked it up that even though I was debating reading something in between the first and second books, that I wouldn’t be able to do that.

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Overall, if you’re looking for something insanely exciting and action packed, as well as emotional and just really well put together, than you should pick up this trilogy next. Of course I love aliens and destruction, so this was easily one of my new favourites. But I think even if you don’t exactly love those things, and are just looking for an action packed book to pick up, I definitely think you should give these a chance.

If you’d like to grab a copy you can do so here with my link through Amazon Associates!

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can follow on Instagram here!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe.

Not a Drop to Drink (Not a Drop to Drink #1) by Mindy McGinnis Review

5/5 Stars 309 pages
Published September 24th 2013 by Katherine Tegen Books

After I finished the last apocalyptic fiction book I read, I really was just wanting more, and then scrolling through my e-reader I stumbled on this book. First of all, let me just say that I love this book cover so much more than any of the other’s I’ve seen lately. It’s just so interesting and fitting for the story inside that I just want a copy for my bookshelf to look at. And re-read, of course.

Following a young teen girl named Lynn, it tells her story through the third person viewpoint at her family’s farmhouse, they’ve lived in it for generations. Though, this isn’t just another young adult book about a girl on a farm. The world she lives in is a desolate one, running out of water and ravaged by disease in the cities. At the beginning of the book it’s just her and her mother, but that quickly changes.

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In this book, she has to face a lot of hard situations. Death, is the biggest one. Also, living in a world where her mother is the only person to trust and everyone else should be shot dead is a hard mindset to work herself out of. Protecting her home’s pond is all she’s ever known, that and hunting, killing, and just basically surviving for the most part. But she’s strong, and she can do anything she puts her mind to.

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After discovering a small family of a pregnant mother, an uncle, and a young girl thrust into her arms, she has to not only take care of herself, but now a small child. With help from her only trustworthy neighbour, she learns to open up to the outside world and really grow into a live that isn’t just about surviving, and I think that’s something that everyone should learn, even if it’s not as extreme as the problems in this book.

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From the moment I picked it up, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to put it down. Finishing the entire thing in just two days, I couldn’t stop thinking about what was going to happen next when I wasn’t reading it. It’s one of those books where you start it and you just can’t stop. I laid in the bath for almost 3 hours reading it, and after that I read it to go to sleep, when I woke up, and then all afternoon again. It’s everything I could want and more in a book, and I really mean it when I say I want a copy for my shelf. All the questions I had about it were answered by the end of the book, and though it ended at a very nice spot, I did notice that there’s a sequel, and I’d love to check that out, if I could get my hands on it.

If you’d like to get a copy for yourself, you can do so here.

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

Thanks for reading! I can’t get this book out of my head, and I have a feeling that you won’t be able to either if you ever check it out. If you’d like to chat about it, I’d love to in the comments! I hope you have a good day, and stay safe.

Shelter (The Aftermath #1) by David Hutchinson Review

3/5 Stars 304 pages
Published June 12th 2018 by Solaris

Ever wonder what would happen if a comet broke apart and smashed into the Earth, causing the downfall and destruction of civilization? Then this is the book for you. Not only does this show you what would happen to the people who got a hold of farms and managed to take care of themselves, but also what would happen if people banded together, like raiders, and their own small time military. Of course, completely lawless.

The story for the most part, follows a man named Max and his family who live on a farm, a man named Adam who’s a straggler spy who travels trying to collect information for his group, and a man named Morty who’s nothing even close to the other two. The characters in this book are all very different and show very different sides of the wasteland.

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In this book, the world is stuck in a state of perpetual autumn. It’s always rainy and miserable, and it’s been many generations since the world we know has existed. People have learned to adapt to their surroundings, band together, or they’ve frankly just keeled over from small things like cuts or illnesses that easily obtainable medicine would cure in our world.

Though this is usually a genre of book I love and can get right into, that wasn’t the case for this book. Although I did like the parts where Adam was the main character, the others I just couldn’t really imagine. The only exciting part of the book besides that was the end, in my opinion, and I’m not really interested in continuing the story with the next book. Not that it’s bad, it just wasn’t for me.

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If you’re interested in checking out this book for yourself, you can do so here.

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great day. Have you read this book? I’d love to chat about it in the comments!

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!

Pretty Dark Nothing (Pretty Dark Nothing #1) by Heather L. Reid Review

As someone who occasionally has sleeping problems where I stay up for days, this book really called to me. The description was extremely intriguing, claiming that Quinn, a young teenage girl, hasn’t slept a full night in about twenty three days. She’s plagued by shadowy creatures when she does finally sleep, and it started about eighteen months ago when her dad walked out on her and her mother.

 

4/5 Stars 321 pages
Published April 23rd 2013 by Month9Books

The shadows aren’t just scary looking, but they tell her bad things. Taunting her, telling her she’s not good enough, and that her ex boyfriend never liked her. The story is told through the third person viewpoint, and alternates views every other chapter, between Quinn and another teenage boy named Aaron. He doesn’t have the happiest backstory either, after losing his mother and little sister in a car accident that he was present for, he almost lost his life as well. His father is a grief stricken alcoholic, and his little brother does whatever he wants. He’s not ready to be a parent, but he has to be for the sake of his family.

 

Though this seems like just another teen romance book from the drama that encapsulates the characters, it’s so much more than that. Yes, it has the makings of the those kind of books, but this story has angels, demons, the afterlife, and even death in it. I  really enjoyed getting to know the characters  and their “powers”, if you could call them that, and I had a very easy time picturing them reacting with the world they’re in. This was a book that I got and forgot about, and I wish I would have read it sooner because it’s really an interesting tale.

 

If you’d like to check out this book for yourself, 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! Hope you have a good day.

The Dreaming Tree by Matthew Mather Review

On the outside, this book seems exciting. After being decapitated in a car accident, Roy is now one of the world’s first full body transplant patients. This means that his head has literally been grafted onto someone else’s body. His life is now wave after wave of phantom pain, and is filled with someone else’s body odour. Well that and walking blackouts.

 

3/5 Stars 352 Pages Published: July 9th 2019 by Blackstone Publishing

Unfortunately this is just something that wasn’t for me. Even though the story was gory and mysterious, I felt like I just wasn’t into it by the end. It starts out like any other scary transplant story, meaning the patient starts to take on characteristics from the person that gave them the organ or body or whatever, but just ended up being a little too predictable. I liked the family drama, I didn’t really expect that to be in this book.

 

I thought that even though officer Delta Devlin had a really cool name, her side of the story wasn’t very memorable until the end. Overall, I can see this being a popular novel, but like I said before, it’s just not for me. I hoped it would be, and I thought it was interesting, but this isn’t my new favourite book. I do like the cover though.

 

This book is available here.

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

Thanks for reading!

Bronze Dragon: Riders of Fire (Dragons’ Realm Novella) by Eileen Mueller Review

Are you looking for a third person fantasy novella full of dragons, magic and fighting? Do you like when one of the  points of view is from the dragon itself? Then this might be something you’ll want to look into. Following a dragon named Handel and his handler Idelian, it shows their lives as they quickly change course entirely and end up somewhere they never thought they’d be.

 

You may have noticed I posted this book not too long ago as it was a free book in my inbox. That’s kind of what spurred me reading this, though I have tons of books I need to get to, this was a short and easy read. The world it’s set in isn’t especially exciting, but the characters and kinds of characters inside it makes it.

 

4/5 Stars 89 pages
Published December 2nd 2018 by Phantom Feather Press

Although it’s not something I’d usually read, I was quickly swept up into the world inside this book, and I’m glad I gave it a chance. Able to mind meld, we get to see a seamless transition between dragon and rider, because they can not only speak to each other inside their minds, but they can send pictures and feelings as well. That’s just something that comes naturally to both dragons and their riders.

 

We also learn about Hans, a young boy. This story was unexpectedly exciting, and something I was really into. Though I don’t usually like books about magic and dragons, this was interesting and kept me sucked in the whole time. A quick read, I finished in less than an hour.

 

Because this is a novella, like another book I read recently, it’s half ads. After about 65%, that’s all there is to the book. I’m not mad about seeing them, I just think it’s a little bit of false advertising to say that the book is this long even though a lot of is is ads and descriptions for the other books in the series. This is why I only give it 4 stars.

 

The book is available here.

Here’s a link to the author’s Twitter.

 

 

Thanks for reading!