Young Adult

Murphy’s favorite books #20: Pure, Julianna Baggott

April 22, 2013 Maeva Murphy's favorite books 4 Comments Post em Português

Murphy’s favorite books is a post to talk about a book or series
that we gave up on reading. If you like the idea, please, feel free to share your
Murphy’s favorite books too.

Important: This post shows our opinion, and our opinion only. We would like to note that people can (and probably will) like these books for the same reasons we didn’t like it. It’s not a flame, we don’t have the intention of bad-mouth the author or their books. It’s a review, but it is not under the Reviews category because we couldn’t finish reading or took a long time to do it. Sometimes a book that one of us liked can be featured here because the other didn’t like it. Again: it is just our opinion.

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters…

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost—how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers… to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash…

There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked: Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss—maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it’s his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

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Dystopia, Grand Central Publishing, Julianna Baggott, Pure Trilogy, Science Fiction, Young Adult 4 Comments

Review: Pandemonium, Lauren Oliver

April 18, 2013 Guta Reviews 6 Comments Post em Português

Attention! If you haven’t read Delirium yet and don’t want to know spoilers of the series, don’t read this post!

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

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Delirium Trilogy, Dystopian Future, HarperCollins, Lauren Oliver, Rated 3 and a half book, Young Adult 6 Comments

Murphy’s favorite books #19: Sirensong, Jenna Black

April 12, 2013 Guta Murphy's favorite books 3 Comments Post em Português

Murphy’s favorite books is a post to talk about a book or series
that we gave up on reading. If you like the idea, please, feel free to share your
Murphy’s favorite books too.

Attention! If you haven’t read Glimmerglass and Shadowspell
yet and don’t want to know spoilers of the series, don’t read this post!

When Dana is invited to Faerie to be officially presented at the Seelie Court, it’s no easy decision. After all, everyone knows Titania, the Seelie Queen, wants her dead.

The journey through Faerie is long—and treacherous. Dana thought it would be a good idea to have friends along, but her sort-of-boyfriend, Ethan, and her bodyguard’s son, Keane, just can’t seem to get along, and Kimber’s crush on Keane isn’t making things any easier.

When a violent attack separates Dana from their caravan, the sexy Erlking saves her just in the nick of time… and makes it clear that he hasn’t given up on making her his own.

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Faeriewalker series, Jenna Black, Paranormal, St. Martin's Griffin, Young Adult 3 Comments

Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, Jennifer E. Smith

April 8, 2013 Guta Reviews 3 Comments Post em Português

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan’s life. Having missed her flight, she’s stuck at JFK airport and late to her father’s second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley’s never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport’s cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he’s British, and he’s sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver’s story will make you believe that true love finds you when you’re least expecting it.

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Jennifer E Smith, Little Brown Books & Company, Rated 4 books, Young Adult 3 Comments

Review: Shadowspell, Jenna Black

April 7, 2013 Maeva Reviews 2 Comments Post em Português

Attention! If you haven’t read Glimmerglass yet and don’t want to know spoilers of the series, don’t read this post!

On top of spending most of her time in a bunkerlike safe house and having her dates hijacked by a formidable Fae bodyguard, Faeriewalker Dana Hathaway is in for some more bad news: the Erlking and his pack of murderous minions known as the Wild Hunt have descended upon Avalon. With his homicidal appetite and immortal powers, the Erlking has long been the nightmare of the Fae realm.

A fragile treaty with the Faerie Queen, sealed with a mysterious spell, is the one thing that keeps him from hunting unchecked in Avalon, the only place on Earth where humans and Fae live together. Which means Dana’s in trouble, since it’s common knowledge that the Faerie Queen wants her – and her rare Faeriewalker powers – dead. The smoldering, sexy Erlking’s got his sights set on Dana, but does he only seek to kill her, or does he have something much darker in mind?

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Faeriewalker series, Jenna Black, Paranormal, Rated 2 books, St. Martin's Press, Young Adult 2 Comments

Review: The Prince of Mist, Carlos Ruiz Zafón

March 26, 2013 Guta Reviews 4 Comments Post em Português

It’s wartime, and the Carver family decides to leave the capital where they live and move to a small coastal village where they’ve recently bought a home. But from the minute they cross the threshold, strange things begin to happen. In that mysterious house there still lurks the spirit of Jacob, the previous owners’ son, who died by drowning.

With the help of their new friend Roland, Max and Alicia Carver begin to explore the suspicious circumstances of that death and discover the existence of a mysterious being called The Prince of Mist—a diabolical character who has returned from the shadows to collect on a debt from the past. Soon the three friends find themselves caught up in an adventure of sunken ships and an enchanted stone garden, which will change their lives forever.

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Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Fantasy, Little Brown Books & Company, Rated 5 books, Young Adult 4 Comments

Review: Tiger’s Curse, Colleen Houck

March 25, 2013 Guta and Maeva Reviews 4 Comments Post em Português

Passion. Fate. Loyalty.

Would you risk it all to change your destiny?

The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. Halfway around the world. But that’s exactly what happened. Face-to-face with dark forces, spellbinding magic, and mystical worlds where nothing is what it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever.

Tiger’s Curse is the exciting first volume in an epic fantasy-romance that will leave you breathless and yearning for more.

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Colleen Houck, Fantasy, Mythology, Rated 3 books, Rated 4 books, Sterling, The Tiger Saga, Young Adult 4 Comments

Review: Leaving Paradise, Simone Elkeles

March 19, 2013 Maeva Reviews 6 Comments Post em Português

Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled.

After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free… If freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.

Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as “criminal” and “freak.” Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.