Review: “Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3)” by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: “Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3)”

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: YA, magical realism, contemporary, AWESOME

Source: ARC from publisher

Publication Date: October 21, 2014 (Scholastic – North America)

Summary: There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

☆: 5/5 stars – SO MANY FEELS YOU GUYS.

Review: Guys, I just…I can’t even with this series anymore. But in a good way. So much heartbreak, but it feels so good. This book (which I guess, is kind of a middle book? out of four?) just proves Stiefvater’s prowess and her unstoppability in terms of keeping a story going with no loss from when you put down the previous book and start the next. With the plot getting crazier, more puzzle pieces falling together, and more doom and gloom gathering, “Blue Lily” is an AWESOME addition to the series, and it makes me hanker for book four even more. Trust me. You want this book.

Review: “Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)” by Marissa Meyer

Title: “Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)”

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genre: Fantasy, YA, PNR, AWESOME, Space Opera, Retellings

Publication Date:  February 4, 2014 (Macmillan – North America)

Source: Publisher-provided ARC

Summary: Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

☆: 5/5 stars – Another great installment in this quartet!

Review: You know, guys, I’m starting to see the greater parallels with Sailor Moon (of which Meyer is a great fan) as this quartet progresses. But you know what? I’m entirely okay with that. That little observation aside, I think that the way that “Cress” is put together is going to throw some of the fans of this series off – I know I was at first – but I encourage everyone to hang in there. “Cress” is just as enchanting and amazing as the other books – if anything, more so, and it was fun to see Meyer playing with how she was structuring her storytelling. Just like “Scarlet” doesn’t immediately delve back into the lives of Cinder and co., “Cress” does the same, except with a more extended timeframe. Regardless, “Cress” is AWESOME, and definitely one of my favorites for this year. Definitely on my top ten list for 2014 so far.

Review: “Cruel Beauty” by Rosamund Hodge

Title: “Cruel Beauty”

Author: Rosamund Hodge

Genre: Fantasy, YA, PNR, AWESOME, Retellings

Publication Date:  January 28, 2014 (HarperTeen – North America)

Source:  Publisher-provided ARC

Synopsis: 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.

☆: 5/5 stars – An absolutely mindblowing debut from Hodge!

Review: Man, I’d been hearing some great things about this book before I even picked it up, but I didn’t expect to be this blown away by a 2014 debut. “Cruel Beauty” isn’t just a retelling of “Beauty and the Beast”, but it also mixes in alternate histories/universes and Greco-Roman mythology. Oh, and ass-kicking females. Which definitely got my attention. Guys, this book is a total breath of fresh air for YA, and I’ve already reread it once before doing this review. If you’re looking for a really amazing fairy retelling with a lot of other elements thrown in, “Cruel Beauty” is definitely the book you need to pick up this year in terms of debuts.

Review: “The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2)” by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Dream Thieves

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: YA contemporary, Magical Realism, Mystery, Paranormal

Publication Date: September 17, 2013 (Scholastic Press – North America)

Source: Publisher-provided ARC

Synopsis: Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after…

☆: 4/5 stars – Not quite as amazing as “Raven Boys”, but still pretty damn good.

Review: If “Raven Boys” was Gansey’s book/the intro book, “Dream Thieves” is definitely Ronan’s book,  100%. We also get a lot of juicy details about backstory about Ronan and his brothers, as well as some new characters, and new mysteries to solve in order to get the boys back together, and back to business at hand. Yes, while “Dream Thieves” had a little more introspection than its predecessor, it’s still a really good sequel, and it’s making me froth at the mouth for book three.

Review: “Antigoddess” by Kendare Blake

Title: “Antigoddess”

Author: Kendare Blake

Genre: YA/NA, Paranormal, Fairy Tales Retold, AWESOME

Publication Date: September 10, 2013 (Tor Teen – North America)

Source: Publisher-provided ARC

Summary: Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out.

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

☆: 5/5 stars – with all of the gore of the “Anna” duology, but with bonus awesomeness.

Review: Oh, you guys. I was so excited for this one, and it delivered. I think it’s safe to say that Blake has proven herself an awesome talent in YA/NA lit (it’s kinda hard to tell whether this one is mature YA or NA just due to the horror/gore imagery alone). If you liked “Anna”, but wanted more, I think you guys are going to love “Antigoddess” – I know I did. One of the more original looks at the Greek pantheon and the Trojan war (plus “Iliad/Odyssey”), “Antigoddess” has a little something for everyone – horror, love, rage, revenge, and of course, teenage shenanigans. Definitely one of my favorites of 2013 so far.

Review: “Belladonna (Secrets of the Eternal Rose #2)” by Fiona Paul

Title: “Belladonna (Secrets of the Eternal Rose #2)”

Author: Fiona Paul

Genre: YA, historical, paranormal, retellings, AWESOME

Publication Date: July 16, 2013 (Penguin – North America)

Source: Publisher-provided ARC

Summary: In Renaissance Italy, love, lust, intrigue and secret societies converge to stunning results!

In the second in the stunning Secrets of the Eternal Rose series, Cassandra Caravello is trying to forget Falco, the wild artist who ran off with her heart, as she grows closer to her strong, steady fiancé, Luca. But Luca seems to have his own secrets. When he’s arrested by soldiers in the middle of the night, Cass’s life is once again thrown into chaos. She must save Luca, and that means finding the Book of the Eternal Rose—the only evidence that will prove he’s innocent.

So begins her journey to Florence, a city haunted by whispers of vampirism, secret soirees and clandestine meetings of the Order of the Eternal Rose. And home to Falco, who is working for the Order’s eerily stunning leader, the Belladonna herself.

Can Cass trust her heart to lead her to the truth this time?
Nothing is as it seems in this seductive thriller, where the truth may be the deadliest poison of all.

☆: 4.5/5 stars – an absolutely AWESOME followup to book one!

Review: Okay, guys, if you liked “Venom”, you’re going to totally fall head over heels for “Belladonna”. “Belladonna” builds upon “Venom” in every single way, and ups the stakes to every single extreme. There’s also a bit of a potential bit of a retelling of a real-life person, and it’s just…awesome. We also get a semi-resolution of the love triangle posed in book one. This review may have spoilers for book one, so if you haven’t read book one, you might want to hold off on reading this review. Either way, if you haven’t already, you simply MUST give the “Eternal Rose” series a try – it’s one of my favorite YA historical paranormal series out there today.

Review: “A Midsummer’s Night Scream” by RL Stine

Title: “A Midsummer’s Night Scream”

Author: RL Stine

Genre: Retellings, Horror, YA contemporary

Publication Date: July 2, 2013 (Macmillan – North America)

Source: Publisher-provided ARC

Summary: Everyone knows that Mayhem Manor is cursed. After production on the horror film was stopped due to a series of mysterious deaths, it became a Hollywood legend–which makes it perfect for Claire and her family. If they can successfully finish the film, it should be enough to save their ailing movie studio.

Sure, the old haunted house is creepy, and strange stuff has been happening, but this is Claire’s chance. Her chance to become the movie star she’s always dreamed and her chance to finally convince her friend Jake that she is girlfriend material. Of course, the fact that Jake thinks he’s in love with her best friend, Delia, who is crushing hard on Jake’s friend Shawn, who insists on following Claire around, could be a problem, but Claire is sure she can figure it out. After all, the course of true love never did run smooth.

But once shooting starts, “creepy and strange” morph into “bloody and deadly,” as the lines between film and reality begin to blur…

☆: 1/5 stars – great idea, but fails to deliver.

Review: Oh boy. Where to start with this one? When I heard that RL Stine was returning to YA, I was really excited. I loved “Goosebumps” as a kid growing up in the 90s (which 90s kid didn’t?) so I was hoping for the same quality with this horror/retelling of “Midsummer’s Night Dream”. Alas, it was not to be had. Where did everything go so hideously wrong? I just…I can’t even really see where it’s a retelling with the horror element so heavy within it. Maybe if it’d been written differently, or had Stine chosen to tell his story with different words, or different characters, or anything like that, I might have been able to see the retelling of Shakespeare’s classic tale. All I can say is that I was looking forward to this one, and Stine let me down. I wish I could say that I recommend “A Midsummer Night’s Scream”, but I just can’t.

Review: “Tides” by Betsy Cornwell

Title: “Tides”

Author: Betsy Cornwell

Genre: YA contemporary, UF, PNR, GLBT, AWESOME

Publication Date: June 4, 2013 (HMH – North America)

Source: Publisher-provided ARC

Summary: When high-school senior Noah Gallagher and his adopted teenage sister, Lo, go to live with their grandmother in her island cottage for the summer, they don’t expect much in the way of adventure. Noah has landed a marine biology internship, and Lo wants to draw and paint, perhaps even to vanquish her struggles with bulimia. But then things take a dramatic turn for them both when Noah mistakenly tries to save a mysterious girl from drowning. This dreamlike, suspenseful story—deftly told from multiple points of view—dives deeply into selkie folklore while examining the fluid nature of love and family.

☆: 4.5/5 stars – a gorgeous new version of the selkie folklore to explore!

Review: Selkies. They’re quickly becoming the new mermaids of the YA paranormal world, and I’m happy to see that happen. Two books alone this month (“Ashes on the Waves” being the second, along with this one) are being pubbed with selkies as major characters, and I couldn’t be happier. “Tides” is a gorgeous story filled with not only magical realism, but also tough stuff issues that aren’t couched in their usual terrible filling of bullying, suicide, or other such destructive behaviors, but treated with love and kindness, giving the reader hope if they’re in the same situation. If you’re looking for some absolutely wonderful new magical realism from a debut author this summer, “Tides” is definitely your book.

Review: “Vengeance Bound” by Justina Ireland

Title: “Vengeance Bound”

Author: Justina Ireland

Genre: YA, Fairy Retellings, Contemporary

Publication Date: April 2, 2013 (S&SFYR – North America)

Source: Edelweiss Review Copy

Summary: Cory Graff is not alone in her head. Bound to a deal of desperation made when she was a child, Cory’s mind houses the Furies—the hawk and the serpent—lingering always, waiting for her to satisfy their bloodlust. After escaping the asylum where she was trapped for years, Cory knows how to keep the Furies quiet. By day, she lives a normal life, but by night, she tracks down targets the Furies send her way. And she brings down Justice upon them.

Cory’s perfected her system of survival, but when she meets a mysterious boy named Niko at her new school, she can’t figure out how she feels about him. For the first time, the Furies are quiet in her head around a guy. But does this mean that Cory’s finally found someone who she can trust, or are there greater factors at work? As Cory’s mind becomes a battlefield, with the Furies fighting for control, Cory will have to put everything on the line to hold on to what she’s worked so hard to build.

☆: 3.5/5 stars – an awesome debut from Ireland, but leaves a few too many loose ends.

Review: This book is pitched as “Dexter” meets “The Goddess Test”, and I have to say, upon reflection, it really is a very good summary of this book. “Vengeance Bound” is the story of a girl possessed by the Furies, wanting to find their Third and become a true force of power in the world once again, and a girl who wants revenge on the man that helped destroy her life. And as engrossing as this book was, I feel like in the end, there were one too many loose ends not tied up, and questions unanswered. I usually don’t mind when the author leaves it to the reader to fill in the blanks by themselves, but these felt like continuity errors more than anything else. However, I do have to say that I did enjoy it quite a bit. If you’re looking for a Greek mythology retelling with a little more bite to it, definitely give “Vengeance Bound” a try.  There are some spoilers in this review, so you’ve been warned.

Blog Tour Stop & Giveaway! “Goddess”: Guest Post – Josephine Angelini on why she uses mythology when she writes!

Hey, everyone, and welcome to my stop on the “Goddess” tour! I’m pretty sad that this trilogy is ending, but hopefully we’ll be giving it a good send-off with this tour. Today we have author Josephine Angelini talking about why she writes using mythology, which should be interesting to see in terms of her writing process.

ALSO!

We have a giveaway! Click on THIS LINK to enter! What’s the grand prize, you ask?

The first is for the chance win one of 15 copies of either STARCROSSED, DREAMLESS or GODDESS.  The second is signed(!) Goddess Kindle Paperwhite!

I mean, look at how pretty that Paperwhite is. Good god. Even I want one!

Remember to visit the other tour hosts as there’s some fantastic content going on within this tour:

TOUR SCHEDULE

Monday, May 20th – Starryeyed Reviews
Tuesday, May 21st – fiktshun
Wednesday, May 22nd – The Irish Banana
Thursday, May 23rd – YA Bibliophile
Friday, May 24th – Supernatural Snark

Monday, May 27th – Birth of a new Witch (That’s us!)
Tuesday, May 28th – Refracted Light Reviews
Wednesday, May 29th – Tales of a Ravenous Reader
Thursday, May 30th – Hobbitsies
Friday, May 31st – Reading Teen

Monday, June 3rd – Parajunkee
Tuesday, June 4th – Buried in Books
Wednesday, June 5th – Candace Book Blog
Thursday, June 6th – Alison Can Read
Friday, June 7th – Book Twirps

Now, join us behind the jump to listen to Angelini’s story of myth and writing.