Waiting on Wednesday #17

This feature is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine. It’s a way to showcase upcoming releases.

My Pick

Goodreads

Synopsis
Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

My Thoughts
Holy crap, gimmie this book. This book sounds amazing, and I’m MADLY in love with this cover. It sounds like the kind of fantasy novel that I will love. I’ve been looking for some amazing fantasy reads. I think this one will be one of them.

Review: Hold Me Like A Breath (Once Upon A Crime Family #1) by Tiffany Schmidt

Book Title:  Hold Me Like A Breath

Author: Tiffany Schmidt

Published Date: May 19th, 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s USA

Genre: YA Retelling

Series: Book One in Once Upon A Crime Family series

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Penelope Landlow has grown up with the knowledge that almost anything can be bought or sold—including body parts. She’s the daughter of one of the three crime families that control the black market for organ transplants.

Penelope’s surrounded by all the suffocating privilege and protection her family can provide, but they can’t protect her from the autoimmune disorder that causes her to bruise so easily.

And in her family’s line of work no one can be safe forever.

All Penelope has ever wanted is freedom and independence. But when she’s caught in the crossfire as rival families scramble for prominence, she learns that her wishes come with casualties, that betrayal hurts worse than bruises, that love is a risk worth taking . . . and maybe she’s not as fragile as everyone thinks.

Disclaimer: I received this ARC from Bloomsbury Children’s in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I fell in love with the cover back in December when I was watching Bloomsbury’s virtual event. It was a cover that stood out to me even days later. The synopsis also stood out to me because organ donation is one of the things I care a lot about and the idea that there is a black market for them is so interesting to me. There is a significant shortage of organ donors, so of course desperate people have to do desperate things.

Like buy a much needed organ off the black market.

That’s where the Landlow’s, Zhu’s & Vickers’ families come in. These three families control the black market.

This story is about Penelope Landlow. I liked her a lot in the beginning of the book. I could tell how frustrated she was with her life and the restrictions placed on her. I would have probably gone crazy myself if I were in her situation. I loved that she was close to her brother Carter, and her brother’s friend Garrett. It was obvious early on that she liked Garrett and that the feeling was mutual.

As the book continued, I was expecting to be pulled deeper and deeper into this world, but I really wasn’t. Things happened and then more things happened and before I knew it Penelope was on her own. I was expecting to keep liking her, but I wasn’t fond of the decisions she was making. I wanted her to reach out to the one guy she claimed she wanted to see, but instead she was waiting on him to find her.

But this guy didn’t know she was alive and she knew that. Was he supposed to just know that she was’t dead?

Making questionable decisions is so common with teenagers that I didn’t fault Penelope. As far as main characters go, I liked her and I was curious to see what would happen next.

It was the insta-love with Char that really drove me insane. I don’t like insta-love, never have and I could not understand why Penelope was so interested in him. He didn’t excite me, there was no chemistry between then. I actually found him to be quite boring and un-swoony. I think that was one of my issues.

Along with not liking Penelope’s love interest, I didn’t feel like the other secondary characters were developed well. I felt like there could have been better character development and I would have enjoyed the book much more than I did. Poor character development can ruin a book for me, and in the case of this book, I think that was my biggest issue.

But the ending was interesting and it left me quite curious as to what was going to happen to these characters next. I have a feeling things are far from over.

Unfortunately I ended up being pretty “meh” on the book overall. I am unsure if I will continue the series, but I most likely will because that ending was very interesting. I was so looking forward to this book and I hate that I was so disappointed in this book overall. I am going to give it 3 stars. It wasn’t a terrible book, it was just a book that didn’t work well for me.

Review: The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1) by Renee Ahdieh

Book Title: The Wrath and the Dawn

Author: Renee Ahdieh

Published Date: May 12th, 2015

Publisher: Putnam (Penguin)

Genre: YA Retelling

Series: Book one in The Wrath and the Dawn series

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights
Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.

Disclaimer: I bought this book.

Review:

I am utterly dumbfounded right now. This book was unbelievably gorgeous. From the cover to the pages to what was written ON the pages. This book was stunning. I’m still as in love with the cover as I was the first time I saw it. Now that I’ve read the book, I’m just as in love with the words on the pages as I am in love with the cover.

I have read many many books in my 29 years but I don’t think any of them have ever been this gorgeously (is that even a word?) written. I was barely 20 pages into it when I put it down and said out loud “holy hell this book is gorgeous” I could probably talk about the gorgeous writing for days, but I probably shouldn’t. It was so beautiful through the entire thing. I was worried that the beautiful writing would take away from the actual story, but it didn’t. It added to it.

The world building was stunning and I felt like I was actually in this world. That’s how vivid things were. I could see the clothes in my minds eye, my mouth watered with the descriptions of the food (funny as I usually don’t enjoy Indian or Persian food) but I definitely wanted the food they were eating because it sounded delicious. When a book can make you hungry in the dead of night, then you know the book is good.

I have massive love and respect for Shazi. She was fierce, stubborn and protective. Her objective was the avenge the death of her best friend Shiva. She never expected to fall for Khalid, and in fact she fought it for a good chunk of the book. In her mind, she could never love Khalid because of what Khalid had done to many young girls before her, including Shiva. She had this vulnerability to her that she was clearly reluctant to show anyone else. It took awhile for her to even let Khalid sense her vulnerability. But when she did, it was beautiful.

Khalid was one of those brooding, mysterious types. Those types always intrigue me because there is always more to them than initially meets the eye. I sensed that he had a lot on his plate and that being vulnerable with anyone wasn’t something he was comfortable with. Just like with Shazi, it took awhile for him to show her his vulnerable side.

I was really worried that Shazi and Khalid would fall for each other and it would feel very insta-lovey. I was really hoping that wouldn’t be the case as I think it would have really ruined the book for me. Thankfully it was not an insta-love situation. I fell for them as I watched them slowly fall for each other. That is a truly great feeling.

There were so many secondary characters in this book. My favorites were Despina, Shazi’s handmaiden & Jalal, Khalid’s cousin. We didn’t get to see a lot of Shazi’s father, but I liked him. I was not really fond of Tariq, Shazi’s first love, but he wasn’t a terrible person. Even the secondary characters were fleshed out well.

I almost forgot to mention, the feels! Holy feels, Batman. Within the first 20 pages I had already cried twice and then through the rest of the book, I cried no less than 5 times. I was not expecting the feels to be so rampant in this one. There were several feelsy moments near the end, and thankfully I had kleenex for those moments.

I absolutely loved this book and I am so glad I took a chance on it and pre-ordered it without even reading an ARC copy. It was totally worth it and I’m not sure how I am going to wait until next year for book 2. 5 stars to this beautifully captivating book.

Review: Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1) by Danielle Paige

Book Title: Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die #1)

Author: Danielle Paige

Published Date: April 1st, 2014

Publisher: Harper Teen

Genre: YA Fantasty

Series: Book One in Dorothy Must Die trilogy

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I’ve read the books. I’ve seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can’t be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There’s still the yellow brick road, though—but even that’s crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I’m the other girl from Kansas.

I’ve been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I’ve been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.

Disclaimer: Library book.

Review:

I’m gonna let you all in on a little secret. I don’t actually like The Wizard of Oz. I didn’t like the books or the movie or anything that had to do with it. I’m like the only person I know who doesn’t like the movie. Yes, I know it’s considered a classic, but I never understood all the hype behind it. I’m sure you are now wondering why on EARTH would I want to read a retelling of a classic that I never liked.

Here’s another secret, I like creepy things. I like tales that are much darker. So when I read the synopsis for this book, I got excited. Like really, embarrassingly excited. When my copy arrived at the library, I couldn’t wait to tear into it.

Holy crap, if the original had been like this, I would have LOVED it. Because Dorothy Must Die was awesome, full of mystery and magic. It exceeded my expectations big time which thrills me because honestly I was a little worried that I wouldn’t enjoy this one, but I knew very early on that, that wasn’t going to be an issue.

From early on we’re swept into a world that is familiar, but also unfamiliar at the same time. The Wicked are good and the Good are bad. Everything is sort of topsy-turvy in this world. The once bright and colorful world is now dark and gloomy. The world building throughout this book was top notch. At one point, I said that it was very Tim Burton-esque and I felt that way all throughout the book.

Dorothy is no longer the sweet girl that the story left off at. She’s allowed herself to get wrapped up in power. She is now power hungry. Oz is no longer the happy place that it once was. Monkeys can get killed for treason. The Scarecrow is now a terrifying scientist who turns people into half human half metal. The Lion is terrifying in size and his thing is to drain the fear from his victims and the Tin Man who is just terrifying in his own right.

We also have Nox,who no one knows much about and we can’t figure out whose side he’s on. There’s Gert, who I absolutely loved and wanted to hug her so many times. Melindra & Annabel who play small but important roles in the book. There’s also Glamora and my personal favorite, Mombi. They’re Good…or are they?

Amy! I actually really loved her as a character. I know some people didn’t connect with her, but I did. She was everything that young Dorothy had been except for one small thing. She had edge. She wasn’t the “good girl” that Dorothy was when she came to Oz. 

Amy had her own demons. Her mom was a mess, her dad was living far away with his pregnant girlfriend and she was bullied constantly at school by a girl named Madison Pendleton.She didn’t believe everything right away which I thought was very believable., but she also didn’t take long to embrace what she needed to do.

I actually really loved the ending. I thought it was a great cliffhanger and given the characters that were involved, it definitely set the stage for an exciting, thrilling second book. I am totally giving this book 5 stars. It was perfect. It was awesome and I cannot wait to see what’s in store for all the characters next.

Review: Great by Sara Benincasa

Book Title: Great

Author: Sara Benincasa

Release Date: April 8th, 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In Sara Benincasa’s contemporary retelling of The Great Gatsby, a teenage girl becomes entangled in the drama of a Hamptons social circle, only to be implicated in a tragedy that shakes the summer community.

Everyone loves a good scandal.

Naomi Rye usually dreads spending the summer with her socialite mother in East Hampton. This year is no different. She sticks out like a sore thumb among the teenagers who have been summering (a verb only the very rich use) together for years. But Naomi finds herself captivated by her mysterious next-door neighbor, Jacinta. Jacinta has her own reason for drawing close to Naomi-to meet the beautiful and untouchable Delilah Fairweather. But Jacinta’s carefully constructed world is hiding something huge, a secret that could undo everything. And Naomi must decide how far she is willing to be pulled into this web of lies and deception before she is unable to escape.

Based on a beloved classic and steeped in Sara Benincasa’s darkly comic voice, Great has all the drama, glitz, and romance with a terrific modern (and scandalous) twist to enthrall readers.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from HarperTeen via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

In high school we had to read the Great Gatsby for English class (I think it was Sophomore English but I’m not 100% sure) I loved it. I gobbled it up in two days while the rest of the class grudgingly read the assigned chapters for two weeks. I loved reading the book and anytime I heard someone complaining about it, I got annoyed. Obviously, I also know that a movie adaptation was made. I did not go see it because I was certain that it was going to be a poor adaptation of the book.

So when Great became available via Edelweiss awhile back, I was excited but anxious. The idea of retelling a classic terrified me because I loved the classic so much and I wasn’t sure how the retelling would live up to it.

Well I didn’t need to be concerned. It was a very well done retelling of The Great Gatsby. The opulence was there with Jacinta’s parties and her outfits, not to mention the location of the story, most of it taking place in the East Hamptons. That screams money & opulence right there. I was also really excited to see that there was an LGBT element in the book. That was an awesome surprise and I kinda cheered when I got to that point. YAY for more LGBT characters in YA.

I am really not sure how I felt about Jacinta. My feelings about her kinda flip-flopped throughout the entire book. That was frustrating to me as I never knew how I would feel about her from one page to the next. When secrets about her are revealed, I did feel empathy for her and that’s when I started to have positive feelings about her and towards her.

Delilah was interesting. I couldn’t quite figure out if she was a good person or if she was just trying to use both Naomi & Jacinta at times. I don’t feel like I got to know her as well as I wanted to.

Naomi was a fun character. She clearly was nothing like her mom.She wasn’t into the fashion, she cared about other people and she was there for her friends and family when they needed her. I didn’t understand her choice of “boyfriend” while she was visiting her mother. I put the term boyfriend in quotation marks because it seemed like all they did was make out.I never really warmed up to the guy, but Naomi I loved.

One character I wish I had seen more of was Skaggs. She was woefully absent from the book, but when she did appear, she was awesome. She was the one to tell Naomi that she was basically being a bad friend to Skaggs because Naomi had become so involved in her life in the East Hamptons that she seemed to forget about Skaggs.

The ending was heartbreaking and even though I knew something incredibly sad was coming, it was still hard to read it. That’s where tears nearly fell. The ending. I was genuinely happy with how it ended though. It remained very loyal to the original which thrilled me.

The beginning was on the slow side and it took me a little while to really get into the story. Even as I was pulled into the world, there were still times were the pace had slowed down a bit too much and I found myself bored. Also I wanted a bit more character development for Delilah. It didn’t feel like I knew her as well as I knew Jacinta & Naomi which bummed me out a little bit. 

I am giving this book 4 stars because overall, I would recommend this book because it was a good, fun read and the resemblance to The Great Gatsby was uncanny. 

Review: Unhinged (Splintered #2) by A.G. Howard

Book Title: Unhinged (Splintered #2)

Author: A.G.Howard

Release Date: January 7th, 2014

Publisher: Amulet Books

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Series: Book 2 in Splintered series (My review of Splintered is here)

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she’s always dreamed of.

That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.

As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.

If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she’ll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head.

Disclaimer: This book was a personal purchase.

Review:

Second book are notoriously weaker than the first books in a series. It’s similar to what is referred to as the “sophomore slump” in high school.In these second books,character development is weaker and the writing isn’t as pretty as it was in the first book. I found none of that to be the case in Unhinged. In fact I went as far as to say that Unhinged was better than Splintered and I honestly didn’t believe that was possible.

While Splintered had the “newness” of a series which resulted in a lot of character building, getting to know a lot of different characters and scene setting, Unhinged had the expansion on the characters. We got to know a lot more about not only those who live in Wonderland but also about those who lived in the human realm with Alyssa.

The writing was, once again, absolutely stunning. I mean, wow it was vivid and descriptive. It made me feel like I was actually in the book. Very few books are able to achieve that level of vivid imagery. Making the reader feel like they are in the book is a special talent that not every author has. A.G. Howard definitely does.

I felt sort of like Alyssa throughout the book. It felt like Morpheus and Jeb were playing tug-of-war with Alyssa and by extension, me. Morpheus was exasperating and sometimes I wanted to chain him up and leave him there. But sometimes I wanted him to be all mine.I think Morpheus has more secrets than we know right now and I can only hope that the final book will give us answers about him.

Oh Jeb,I did like him in this book, even though his art appeared to be more important to him than Alyssa was. I almost wonder if Alyssa feels like she has to be in love with him since they’ve been friends forever. Do I think she cares for him? Absolutely but I’m not buying a ticket to Love-Land quite yet. Jeb clearly would do anything for her. I definitely think that he is in love with her, but like I said, I’m not sure it’s mutual…yet.

I refuse to spoil this book for those of you who haven’t read it but holy family history Batman. I definitely loved all the bits with Alyssa’s family. Particularly her mom now that she’s out of the asylum. Alyssa’s mom can definitely provide Alyssa with answers to her many questions. Problem is, will Alyssa believe that her mom is strong enough to handle it? 

There is definitely more than meets the eye with this book. This book caries within in many secrets. Secrets that may strengthen Alyssa and her family or weaken it. We just don’t know yet. This book was amazing and I cannot believe that we have to wait until 2015 for the conclusion to this series. I honestly don’t know how I am going to manage the wait. If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would.

Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Book Title:  Cruel Beauty

Author: Rosamund Hodge

Release Date: January 28th, 2014

Publisher: Balzer & Bray

Genre: YA Fantasy

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl’s journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex’s secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Disclaimer: I got this e-ARC from Balzer & Bray via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

Okay, the first thing you need to know is that whoever did the marketing on this book was incorrect. This is not Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast, it’s Greek Mythology & Beauty and the Beast. The other thing you need to know right off the bat is that is slow in the beginning and there is a ton of info-dump, but please stick with it as it’s one crazy ride.

I absolutely love Greek Mythology and while I know a lot of people thought that the addition of Greek Mythology turned the book a bit pretentious, I didn’t I loved the addition of Greek Mythology. It took me back to 5th grade when I studied it and I tested myself throughout the book to see how much of it, I remembered.

Nyx knows that she is to be married to the Gentle Lord as soon as she is old enough. That was the bargain that her father made to him prior to her birth. She has never had a choice in the matter. She has resented her sister for being the favored one. She resents her father for not trying to save her from this fate.

Yet she has a plan. She plans to seduce the Gentle Lord, destroy his castle and free her people from the 900 year old curse that has been upon them.Yet no where in her plan did she expect to fall for Ignifex, the Dark Lord. She also never expected to meet Shade. Shade has more secrets than Nyx realizes. Shade is even more mysterious than Ignifex is. 

In a book like this, you worry that so much effort and energy will go into the world building and that the character development will suffer. You’ll be happy to know that it doesn’t. The main characters are all fleshed out nicely and even the secondary characters are fleshed out nicely which was really nice to see.

For the first half of the book I was Team Shade. He was sweet and kind and clearly Nyx was interested in that. I think she was attracted to Shade not just because of his looks, but because for the first time, someone was kind to her and he valued her. My love affair with Ignifex didn’t start until I was about 55% of the way into the book. 

Before I knew it, I was swept up in Ignifex’s clutches. He was much like Nyx. He was a prisoner in this castle much like herself. Yet somehow these two managed to fall in love. Before I knew it, I was rooting for them. Big time and my love of Shade was forgotten.

I am giving this book 4 stars mostly because the ending massively confused me. Maybe it was because I was up until all hours reading it, I’m not sure but overall it was really good and I would totally recommend this book to people who love Greek Mythology and or Beauty and the Beast.

Splintered (Splintered #1) by A.G. Howard

Book Title: Splintered (Splintered #1)

Author: A.G. Howard

Release Date: January 1st, 2013

Publisher: Amulet Books

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Series: Book 1 in Splintered series

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

Disclaimer: This book was given to me as a Christmas present.

Review:

As a child I never really liked the Lewis Carroll version of Alice in Wonderland. Nor did I like the Disney version. However, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was dark, mysterious and intriguing. I went back to the Lewis Carroll version and to the Disney version as an adult and this time, I loved the magic that was in it.

Imagine, if you will, that Lewis Carroll and Tim Burton made a baby. That baby is Splintered. A.G. Howard managed to keep the magic of the story that Lewis Carroll first told children and mixed it in with the dark and zany qualities of Tim Burton’s version.

Yet, despite the similarities to both Lewis Carroll’s version and Tim Burton’s version, A.G. Howard still manages to write an amazing story with her own imagination. I am normally a pretty fast reader, but this took my speed reading abilities to new heights. I had to know what was going to happen and when. So I had a really hard time putting the book down at any point.

The writing was absolutely gorgeous and if writing could be swoon-worthy, this writing would be.A.G. Howard managed to create a beautiful and mysterious Wonderland through her writing.  The text was in purple which I thought was awesome, It still was readable but it brought in yet another magical element to the story. I cannot gush about the cover enough. I have a serious cover crush right now. The pictures absolutely do not do this book cover justice.

I loved that this book was so character driven. From Alyssa to her dad, to her mom and then of course to Jeb & Morpheus.Most of the people I’ve spoken to are Team Morpheus. I wish I could say definitively which team I am on but I can’t. Because I love both Jeb and Morpheus. Jeb for his loyalty and devotion to Alyssa and Morpheus because he’s quite funny despite being somewhat deceptive.

I just can’t get over how much I loved this book. It was amazing and I need to read Unhinged, right now.I am so anxious to find out what the future holds for Alyssa and her family as well as Jeb & Morpheus.It should shock no one that I am giving this book 5 stars.

Review: Over The Rainbow by Brian Rowe

Book Title: Over The Rainbow

Author: Brian Rowe

Published Date: August 6th

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Genre: YA/LGBT

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Link: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

A modern re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz!

Zippy Green never meant to fall in love with a girl, but when she does, her ultra-conservative father tries to send her to anti-gay camp. At the Kansas City airport, however, she hides inside a giant suitcase and sneaks onto an airplane headed not to the camp, but to Seattle, where her online love Mira lives. Halfway through the flight, the plane barrels out of control and crashes into the ground, knocking her unconscious. 

When Zippy awakens, she finds that most of the passengers have vanished. She doesn’t know what’s happened, but she’s determined to find out. She begins a quest on foot toward Seattle, and along the way, she meets a teenager with a concussion, a homeless man with a heart condition, a child without a shred of bravery, and a terrier named Judy. Together the group discovers that more than two-thirds of the world’s population have mysteriously disappeared. But that’s only the beginning…

All Zippy wants is to find her Mira, but before she can she has to contend with two outside forces. The first is her homophobic father, who does everything in his power to keep her from the girl she loves. And the second is extinct creatures of all shapes and sizes, including living, breathing dinosaurs, which have replaced the missing population.

Disclaimer: I received this e-galley from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

Okay first of all let me admit that The Wizard of Oz is definitely not my all time favorite movie. In fact I don’t like it. At all.Even as a nearly 28 year old woman, I don’t like it. However I was curious about the modern retelling of it so I decided to give it a shot.

With the exception of Zippy’s conservative anti-gay father, I loved the rest of the characters. Zippy was absolutely adorable and Frankie, Mr. Balm and Ellie were awesome too.Frankie’s father was the complete opposite of Zippy’s father which was so awesome.When we first meet Mr. Balm he gives off this really creepy old homeless guy vibe. Thankfully we realize that he’s quite normal and not creepy at all.

I get very angry every time someone in a book goes on a homophobic rant, tangent, whatever you want to call it. I absolutely hated every word that came out of Zippy’s dad’s mouth. It was clear to me that he didn’t care about Zippy’s happiness. He only cared about his career and how it would look to have a lesbian daughter. However, watching him evolve throughout the book was awesome to watch. It was something I never expected to see, but I did and it made me happy.

I don’t like Jurassic Park either, but it was really cool to have dinosaurs and other extinct species emerge from the shadows in this book. It was fascinating and I loved seeing how excited Zippy got,especially with the dinosaurs.  

Oh I almost forgot about Judy, the white dog that was also on the plane with Zippy and Frankie in the beginning.She was clearly supposed to be Toto if we are comparing this modern day version to the original version.

I love that there are getting to be more LGBT characters in YA. That shows a lot of progression if we compare the books out now to the books that were out even five years ago. So I am giving this book 4 stars. I found it completely enjoyable and the characters were likable, with the notable exception of Zippy’s father. 

“You can’t prevent someone from being gay. They just are.” -Frankie