I did a reading marathon this past couple of days trying to catch up with my Goodreads reading goal. Good thing I had some books from Netgalley just waiting to be read and, of course, reviewed.
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Coral and Bone (The Siren Chronicles #1)
by Tiffany Daune
Published May 9th 2017 by Oftomes Publishing
Halen knows the sparks igniting under her fingertips are dangerous. She has spent her entire life trying to quell the tingly feelings that make her destroy things, but now that she is back in Rockaway Beach, where she watched her father drown, the flames have become impossible to tame.
Halen is trying to hold on, but when she is thrust into a mysterious new world, the underwater realm of Elosia, she unravels the secrets of her past and can't help but ignite. As she explores Elosia, she realizes her life has been a lie. And when those who have deceived her come to her for help, Halen must choose—walk away or unleash the magick that could destroy them all.
Review: I had high hopes for this book because I found the cover amazing. I was kinda disappointed that there was so much going on in the book that there was no longer coherence and harmony in the plot. The story line was confusing - at the beginning I was wondering if maybe I was reading the 2nd or 3rd book in the series because there wasn't much to on about. The back story was laid out eventually but too far away for it to not matter anymore. The Characters and their development needs a lot of work. The main character comes out as this whiny teenager who thinks the whole world owes her for lying to her about her heritage etc. It was seriously annoying. There were also a lot of elements that kinda did not make sense - like Halen's twin Natalia who was described on one hand as the darker twin and then on the other as this heroic Siren who was raised to save the day. I wish there was more time spent in the other realms and not just some running around and hiding. gave this book 2 stars only because it didn't live up to my expectation from the cover.
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The New Dark
by Lorraine Thomson
Published November 1st 2017 by Bastei Entertainment
Rating: ⭐⭐
"She thought she knew who she was and where she came from.Then her home was destroyed. Her brother lost amongst the ashes. And the boy she loves vanished. She owed her own survival to a mutant — the very forces behind the destruction. Now Sorrel will never be the same again."
There is no "Before", there is only "Now". Because now there’s no internet, no TV, no power grid. Food is scarce, and the world’s a hostile place. But Sorrel lives a quiet life in the tiny settlement of Amat. It’s all she’s ever known ...
Until a gang of marauding mutants destroys the village, snatching her brother Eli, and David, her boyfriend. Sorrel sets out after them, embarking on a journey fraught with danger. Can she survive? The only thing that keeps her going is Eli and David. They are out there somewhere. They must be alive. And if she has her way, she will find them.
THE NEW DARK is the first book in a new YA-trilogy and will be published in November 2017. The second and third books in the series (THE NEW DAWN & THE NEW DAY) will be released in 2018.
Lorraine Thomson was born in Glasgow. She won a UK writing competition and was short-listed for the Dundee Book Prize. She now lives in Ullapool on the rugged north-west coast of Scotland.
Follow the author on Twitter: @LGThomson1
Review: Another book that got me because of the cover but seriously let me down. The premise is that our world has reverted back to a culture of tribes and we no longer have technology, people live hunting or foraging for food and mutants are born. The protagonist is a young girl who survived the slaughter of her village and family by mutants and she set out to find the boy she loved and her baby brother taken as prisoners. I'm not sure if I've just read too many YA fantasy books with this premise that it now bores me or that I know see the difference with the content. This book seriously has promise but it just didn't entertain me as much as I wanted it to. I might read the next books just to see what happened to the characters.
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Ember Burning (Trinity Forest #1)
by Jennifer Alsever
Published May 6th 2017 by Sawatch Press
Rating: ⭐⭐
Senior year was supposed to be great--that's what Ember's friend Maddie promised at the beginning of the year. Instead, Ember TrouvE spends the year drifting in and out of life like a ghost, haunted by her parents' recent, tragic death.
At home, she pores over her secret obsession: pictures of missing kids-- from newspaper articles, from grocery store flyers-- that she's glued inside a spiral notebook. Like her, the people are lost. Like her, she discovers, they had been looking for a way to numb their pain when they disappeared.
When Ember finds herself in Trinity Forest one day, a place locals stay away from at all costs, she befriends a group of teenagers who are out camping. Hanging out with them in the forest tainted with urban legends of witchcraft and strange disappearances, she has more fun than she can remember having. But something isn't right.
The candy-covered wickedness she finds in Trinity proves to be a great escape, until she discovers she can never go home. Will Ember confront the truth behind her parents' death, or stay blissfully numb and lose herself to the forest forever?
Review: I have never been stoned or high in my life but I'm guessing after reading this book that this would be what it feels like. It felt like I walked into someone else waking dream that revolves around Trinity Forest where people get lost and are never found. These are the runaways who choose to leave their life behind to be 're-birthed'. But they have to stay in Trinity Forest to do so. I'm confounded or befuddled as to what I actually read. LOL
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I just realized I gave 2 stars to each of these books. Am I getting bored or am I just not enjoying reading lately?
Labels: book reviews, books, fantasy, library, Netgalley, series, YA
