ARC Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Eternity Cure
Series: Blood of Eden, Book 2
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Length: 446 Pages
Publication Date: April 30, 2013
Available Format: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook
Source: NetGalley
My Rating: ★★★★★
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Book Description:

She has done the unthinkable: died so that she might continue to live. Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever-and possibly end human and vampire existence.

There's a new plague on the rise, a strain of the Red Lung virus that wiped out most of humanity generations ago-and this strain is deadly to humans and vampires alike. The only hope for a cure lies in the secrets Kanin carries, if Allie can get to him in time.

Allison thought that immortality was forever. But now, with eternity itself hanging in the balance, the lines between human and monster will blur even further, and Allie must face another choice she could never have imagined having to make.

The Eternal Cure picks up a few months after the events of The Immortal Rules. Allie has been hunting Sarren, following the pull she feels toward her sire, Kanin. She’s getting close, she can feel it; her objective is to free Kanin from the evil hands of “crazy Psycho Vampire” as she calls Sarren. Unfortunately for her, things do not go quite as she envisions them.

Review: The Giver by Lois Lowry

Title: The Giver
Series: The Giver Quartet, Book 1
Author: Lois Lowry
Publisher: Ember
Length: 192 Pages
Original Publication Date: 1993
Available Format: Hardback, Paperback, Mass Market Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook, Audiobook.
Source: Bought
My Rating: ★★★★★
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Book Description:

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this story. The book was one of my required reading materials for my Literature for Young Adults course. Out of the four novels assigned (The Giver, The Chocolate War, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Old Man and the Sea) The Giver was my top favorite. In truth I enjoyed all of the novels but The Chocolate War...

The Giver plays heavily on the concept that one person's utopia is another person's dystopia.

Review: Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

Title: Slave to Sensation
Series: Psy-Changeling, Book 1
Author: Nalini Singh
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Length: 293 Pages
Publication Date: September 5, 2006
Available Format: Kindle Edition, eBook, Paperback, Mass Paperback, Audiobook.
Source: Bought
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description:

In a world that denies emotions, where the ruling Psy punish any sign of desire, Sascha Duncan must conceal the feelings that brand her as flawed. To reveal them would be to sentence herself to the horror of “rehabilitation”— the complete psychic erasure of everything she ever was….

Both human and animal, Lucas Hunter is a Changeling hungry for the very sensations the Psy disdain. After centuries of uneasy co-existence, these two races are now on the verge of war over the brutal murders of several Changeling women. Lucas is determined to find the Psy killer who butchered his packmate, and Sascha is his ticket into their closely guarded society. But he soon discovers that this ice-cold Psy is very capable of passion—and that the animal in him is fascinated by her. Caught between their conflicting worlds, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities—or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation…

Sometimes I put off books based on the most idiotic of arguments. In this case it was the cover and the length of the series. Although the cover has an incredibly hot guy, something about it (can’t quite say what) wasn’t calling me. But thanks to Kick’n Ladies I gave this series a go and boy I wish I had done so a while ago.

Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent
Series: The Divergent Trilogy, Book 1
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 487 Pages
Publication Date: May 3, 2011
Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook, Audiobook
Source: Bought
My Rating: ★★★★★
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository

Description:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

The story takes place in a futuristic version of Chicago. One where instead of flying cars and holographic phone calls we get a glimpse of a more realistic destroyed future. In said future, what I assume is the remains of humanity after WW3 (at least in the area of Chicago), the inhabitants have separated into five different factions: Abnegation (known for their selflessness), Amity (the ones who chose to live in peace), Erudite (those who sought knowledge without bounds), Candor (the ones who preferred the truth above all else) and Dauntless (famous for their daredevil attitudes). All the children from these factions study together and once they reach the age of sixteen they go through a choosing ceremony in which they must pick between staying with their family in the faction they were born or leave their faction for a more suitable one where they might fit in better. Once the teenagers choose the faction that will be their new home they are to live with the others from said faction and be initiated into their new lives. The initiation rituals vary between each faction seeing as they have different views on what is right and what is wrong and on what is necessary to preserve the peace and avoid wars.

Blog Tour: Dragon's Teeth

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Journey with Words and another great Blog Tour. Today I'm presenting you to indie author Suzanne van Rooyen and her debut novel Dragon's Teeth. Let's give her a warm welcome!!

Suzanne grew up in the urban sprawl of Johannesburg, South Africa where she studied music and penned a few angsty poems. After a brief stint in Australia, Suzanne settled in Finland where she completed a Master's degree in music and started writing in earnest.

Suzanne now works as a freelance writer, author and part-time dance teacher. Her short stories have appeared in Golden Visions Magazine, Cast of Wonders, and Earthbound Fiction among others. When not writing she strums away at her guitar and entertains her shiba inu, Lego.

She brings us a cyberpunk story as her debut novel.

Review: Riser by Becca C. Smith

Title: Riser
Series: The Riser Saga, Book 1
Author: Becca C. Smith
Publisher: Publisher House if available
Length: Number of Pages, Word Count, File Size, etc.
Publication Date: June 5, 2010
Available Format: Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook
Source: Supplied by the author through IO Book Tours

My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository

Book Description:

Black swirling holes churning madly in the center of every corpse. This is how eighteen-year-old Chelsan Derée sees the deceased. Her ability to connect to the black spinning holes allows her to control every dead thing within a four-mile radius.

But that's the least of her problems. It's 2320 and Chelsan Derée has to survive another year of high school, which for her is pure and utter torture, mainly due to the fact that her schoolmate Jill Forester's favorite activity is making Chelsan's life a living hell. If that isn't enough, Chelsan's impossible crush on Ryan Vaughn makes her brain do somersaults on a regular basis, especially since she is positive he doesn't know she exists. And being eighteen Chelsan has to deal with the pressure of whether or not she should take a little pill called Age-pro, which cures aging, making the world eighteen forever and highly over-populated.

When Chelsan's mother, Janet, is brutally killed, along with everyone else in her trailer park, Chelsan finds out that she was the intended target. Chelsan must use her power to raise and control the dead to save herself, protect her friends and take down the man responsible for murdering her mother.

Chelsan is an 18 year old living in L.A. in the year 2320. Although some technology breakthroughs have allowed civilization to have some wicked technology, life pretty much remains the same. Except for one tiny detail… Immortality comes in the shape of a pill. You read it right; the secret for immortality has been breached and encapsulated for public consumption.

Pavlov’s Dogs Blog Tour

Welcome back my amazing followers and lurkers. Today I have for you a taste of a new Dystopian book called Pavlov’s Dogs. Let’s give a warm welcome to the authors behind this novel: D.L. Snell and Thom Brannan. So stick around because I have the authors' bio, a book synopsis and a excerpt for your enjoyment.

So who are these authors you may ask?

D.L. SNELL is an acclaimed novelist from the Pacific Northwest. Anthologies include Pocket Books’ Blood Lite series, edited by best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson. Snell’s first novel, Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines, also attained critical acclaim from popular novelists such as New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry.

Where can you stalk him? You can find Mr. Snell @:

• Goodreads
• His Website
• Facebook
• Twitter

THOM BRANNAN (est. 1976) has been a submariner, a nuclear operator, an electrician and now works on an offshore drilling platform. He lives in or around Austin, Texas, with his lovely wife, Kitty, a boy, a girl, a cat and a dog.

Where can you stalk him? You can find Mr. Brannan @:

• Goodreads
• Amazon

So what exactly is Pavlov’s Dogs about?

Zombies Versus Werewolves: Who Will Win?

Pavlov’s Dogs is a new action, sci-fi, horror novel that answers the burning question all fans want to know.

With the rise in popularity of zombie fiction, readers have been dying to know which monster can beat the walking dead. Novelists Thom Brannan and D.L. Snell answer one of those questions in their newest book, PAVLOV’S DOGS (Permuted Press).

PAVLOV’S features genetically enhanced werewolves designed to operate as spec ops soldiers. They can transform at will and are fearsome killing machines. When the dead rise, the mastermind behind the Dogs wishes to unleash his creations against the undead hordes and send them on rescue missions to bring survivors back to his island. But many members of the doctor’s team raise critical questions: The Dogs are still prototypes, untested. What happens if they’re not ready for battle and their systems fail? More importantly, what happens when a Dog gets bitten by an infected human? Can the werewolves win out against the hordes?

ARC Review: The Immortal Rules

Title: The Immortal Rules
Series: Blood of Eden, Book 1
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin TEEN
Length: 504 Pages
Publication Date: April 24, 2012
Reviewed Format: eGalley
My Rating: ★★★½☆☆

Description:
Allison Sekemoto has lived her entire life on the Fringe, one of the last bastions of humanity among a world plagued by the diseased-afflicted rabids. Unfortunately for her, the city is controlled by vampires who exchange protection for a blood quota. As an unregistered, Allie doesn’t have to provide the monthly blood fix as is customary of the registered people. However, that also means that she has no rights, no food rations and no one to turn to should things get ugly. As such, she has lived a good portion of her life as a scavenger; survival is the name of the game. And as if trying to find food and staying alive everyday wasn’t complicated enough, things take a turn for the worse when a series of events force Allie to turn into the one creature she despises the most; a vampire.

This is my first book by Julie Kagawa (author of the Iron Fey Series) and I love to find such a strong female as the lead character. Allie is a tough, no nonsense, 17 year old survivor that begins the story as a badass individual and ends it as a poster child for kickass heroines. Although brave and selfless, Allie is far from perfect, which helps grounds the character as well as helps the reader connect with her. As proven by her headstrong and rash tendencies that, at times, become downright infuriating.

The Hunger Games (Spoiler Free)

Movie: The Hunger Games 

Genre(s): Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Action-Drama
Runtime: 2:22
Format: regular
Rating: PG–13
Studio: Lionsgate
Country: USA
Language: English
Official Website: The Hunger Games Movie

Director: Gary Ross
Producer(s): Jon Kilik, Nina Jacobson, Suzanne Collins, Robin Bissell
Writer(s): Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, Billy Ray
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley

Release Date: March 23, 2012
Find it: Currently in a theater near you.
Scores:

• Metacritic: 68/100 (critics); 7.8/10 (users) [http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-hunger-games] 
• Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (critics); 95% (users) [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hunger_games/] 
• My rating: ★★★★★

Yesterday was the release day for the hugely awaited movie based on Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. The dystopian tale of survival featuring Katniss Everdeen and her role in the deadliest games in Panem.

Disclaimer: For those of you who have not read the book yet or do not plan to read it, this is my shorter, spoiler free review of the movie The Hunger Games. If you have read the book and would rather want to read my spoiler-splashed review click here.

Whenever I see that my favorite books are being turned into movies or TV, I get small panic attack. It is so rare for a movie to follow a book closely that most of the times I feel like I am watching a completely different story. Sometimes these adaptations/variations simply work, for example: True Blood (I love what they did to Lafayette’s character) other times they fail to reach the bar set by the book.

The Hunger Games (Spoilers Alert)

Movie: The Hunger Games
Genre(s): Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Action-Drama
Runtime: 2:22
Format: regular
Rating: PG–13
Studio: Lionsgate
Country: USA
Language: English
Official Website: The Hunger Games Movie

Director: Gary Ross
Producer(s): Jon Kilik, Nina Jacobson, Suzanne Collins, Robin Bissell
Writer(s): Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, Billy Ray
Main Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley

Release Date: March 23, 2012
Find it: Currently in a theater near you.
Scores:

• Metacritic: 68/100 (critics); 7.8/10 (users) [http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-hunger-games] 
• Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (critics); 95% (users) [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hunger_games/] 
• My rating: ★★★★★

Yesterday was the release day for the hugely awaited movie based on Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. The dystopian tale of survival featuring Katniss Everdeen and her role in the deadliest games in Panem.

Disclaimer: If you are reading this review I am assuming that you read the book and already know the story and what happens in it. What I want to do here is to just mention what I thought of the movie in general, the castings, the settings and the accuracy of the story. If you haven’t read the books yet, and/or simply don’t want spoilers, please visit this link instead.

Whenever I see that my favorite books are being turned into movies or TV, I get small panic attack. It is so rare for a movie to follow a book closely that most of the times I feel like I am watching a completely different story. Sometimes these adaptations/variations work, for example: True Blood (I love what they did to Lafayette’s character) other times they fail to reach the bar set by the book.

Review: Teddy Bears and Tea Parties (Spoilers Free)

Title: Teddy Bears and Tea Parties
Series: Standalone Story, so far…
Author: S. Boyd Taylor
Illustrator: Jorge Rodas
Publisher: S. Boyd Taylor; Premium Illustrated Version edition
Publication Date: August 12, 2011
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5) (sorry, this code does not allow for half stars)

If you like your reviews spoiler free continue reading this post. If you don't mind a few spoilers, there is another version, a bit extended.

Ever wonder how things would have been if your favorite childhood toys all of a sudden came to life? Wouldn’t that had been the best time of your life, to finally have the toys interact back? What if they did but they were not as innocent and good as you thought them? What if instead of playing they’ll try to eat you alive? That is the premise of Teddy Bears and Tea Parties, a world where children most adapt or die and adults seem to be nowhere to be found.

I’m not even sure how to begin reviewing this one. Teddy Bears and Tea Parties is a short (about 13 pages long) that tells the story of young child, known throughout as “Little Girl”, who’s in a mission to find her kidnapped sister, Angie, who was taken by Him.

In Little Girl’s world magic has, somehow, come back and has given life to EVERYTHING, from the toys to even the houses; and everything is hungry and must be fed. There is a line in the book that pretty much summarizes its concept: “The world is alive since the magic came back, and children are small and make a good snack. And everything tricks and everything cheats and everything, everything, everything eats.” Much like this one there are a few other phrases that give a sense of creepiness and uneasiness, which I assume is what the author was going after.

Review: Teddy Bears and Tea Parties (Some Spoilers)

Title: Teddy Bears and Tea Parties
Series: Standalone Story, so far…
Author(s): S. Boyd Taylor

Illustrator: Jorge Rodas
Publisher: Publisher House if available
Publication Date: August 12, 2011
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5) (sorry, this code does not allow for half stars)

If you would prefer to read the review Spoiler Free, please follow this link.

Ever wonder how things would have been if your favorite childhood toys all of a sudden came to life? Wouldn’t that had been the best time of your life, to finally have the toys interact back? What if they did but they weren't as innocent and good as you thought them? What if, instead of playing, they’ll try to eat you alive? That is the premise of Teddy Bears and Tea Parties, a world where children most adapt or die and adults seem to be nowhere to be found.

I’m not even sure how to begin reviewing this one. Teddy Bears and Tea Parties is a short (about 13 pages long) that tells the story of young child, known throughout as “Little Girl”, who’s killing bears (yes, your read correctly, bears) left and right in order to find her kidnapped sister. The short opens with “Little Girl” wiping a blood stain from the kitchen window; afterwards she proceeds with her mission searching for her sister, Angie, who was taken by Him, also known as Himn; the evil character and main antagonist in the story.

In Little Girl’s world magic has, somehow, come back and has given life to EVERYTHING, from the toys to even the houses; and everything is hungry and must be fed. There is a line in the book that pretty much summarizes its concept: “The world is alive since the magic came back, and children are small and make a good snack. And everything tricks and everything cheats and everything, everything, everything eats.” Much like this one there are a few other phrases that give a sense of creepiness and uneasiness, which I assume is what the author was going after.