Wednesday Flourish: The Hunted Compilation

Happy Hump Day Everyone!

I don't know about you guys, but this week is going fast for me. It would still be better if the above said Happy Friday, but I'll take Wednesday over Monday or Tuesday :) Today I'm crazy excited to bring you another recent cover design, this one for author, friend and fellow blogger Amanda Shofner.

Amanda was one of my earliest clients, someone who took a chance on me before I had much of a cover design portfolio to my name, and I'll be forever grateful to her for that! We've done five projects together now, two of them nonfiction titles and three for her urban fantasy series, The Hunted. Amanda has recently combined the entire series, two full length novels and two novellas, into a single volume, so we created a brand new cover for the compilation.

Just to refresh your memory, here are the individual covers for books one and two:

And the new cover for the complete series!

THE HUNTED

The Northern Alliance Betterment Society rose up to declare war on the Gifted and erase them from existence. The deep division between the Gifted—the illusionists and memory-bringers—made the war successful. Now the Gifted are being hunted and eliminated, but there remain a few who choose to fight back and reclaim their lives.

ELUSIVE MEMORIES

One false move—or trusting the wrong person—can turn the Gifted into the hunted.

Sam Benson doesn’t know where she is or, more importantly, who she is. With her memories gone, she must piece together the details of her life—and figure out who to trust—before they take it from her.

THE UNEXPECTED GIFT

When Michael gave up his Gift, he was told it'd be forever. In the middle of recruiting for the new Gifted army, his Gift comes back. Unexpectedly.

But rather than celebrating the impossible, Michael’s carefully laid plans are about to come to naught... unless he can find a way to survive and make it right.

HIDDEN ILLUSIONS

Janey Jones is driven by one purpose. Will Brown has seen what blind ambition can do.

When Will and Janey are thrown together, they’re forced to put aside their differences for a greater purpose: find a way to stay alive—and salvage the mission to cut the Hunters down, once and for all.

A VEILED TRUTH

She’s about to learn life isn’t like her controlled experiments.

Edie Brown's well-ordered scientist’s life unravels when her best friend Marcus proposes a different kind of experiment—one that puts her heart at risk.

Find The Hunted:

 

Amazon • B&N • Kobo • iBooks • Goodreads

Find Amanda:

Website • Blog • Facebook • Twitter

You can find more of my cover design work at Seedlings Design Studio!    

Author Interview: Maria Dahvana Headley + Magonia

I'm so pleased today to welcome author Maria Dahvana Headley to the blog to answer a few questions about her newest release, Magonia. I tried to reach through my computer screen and yank this book into my grabby little hands the minute I saw its gorgeous cover, and now that it's out I can't wait to dive in and explore all this world has to offer. I hope you all enjoy the interview!

One of my favorite things about the fantasy genre is the world-building and the way it showcases the limitless nature of an author's creativity. If you could go on a YA fantasy world-hop, spending a few days in one world before bouncing to the next, which three fictional worlds would top your list to visit?

Ooh, what a great question. I'm gonna grab a classic world first, out of Peter Pan. I have a lot of objections to Neverland - and part of what caused me to write Magonia was that I've never gotten over being aggravated about what happens to Wendy. I always wanted to be Peter, or at least Tinkerbelle, but even Tinkerbelle has a rotten time and nearly dies. Neverland is a crummy place for girls. It's also a crummy place for people of color. The only people who really have a good time there are white boys. Ah, classic fantasy. There is so much wrong in it, but I'm still seduced by the magic of Peter Pan. I mean, come on, they fly out a bedroom window in London, and end up in a sky kingdom. So if I was visiting, well, I might have to kick some ass. It wouldn't necessarily be a vacation. I'd be starting a Neverland revolution. Next I'd like to visit the utterly weird Moby Dick-based world China Mieville's makes in Railsea, partially because I helped fiddle with that world when it was in draft! I'm pretty smitten by the giant moles instead of whales, and by the edge of the map he ends up at, the actual sea rather than a country crisscrossed by trains and rails. It's so awesome. The Railsea world clearly informed Magonia - though Magonia is a skysea. China helped me tons on it, and if you were to read both of the books in succession, you'd probably be able to see where we worked on each other's worlds. Magonia is dedicated to him, so it's only fair that if I were world touring, I'd visit his world too. Damn, apparently I'm visiting middle grade worlds. Hmm. Let's go Through the Looking Glass. I can't help it. I've always wanted to go there. In this trip, I wanted to visit wildly fantastical places, not so much dystopia. I've read some amazing dystopic worlds too, but I think I'm feeling that long winter we just had in NYC, and now I want to visit places with spectacular monsters and creatures. Lewis Carroll's world obviously is full of wonders and surprises. I love being startled by weirdness.

In Magonia, Aza is no longer plagued by the lung disease that crippled her in her world. What's one thing she would say she learned about herself once she was free of the illness that was such a defining part of her life? 

A major illness can function as a fence around your activities, and though you can be really tough within the fence, it's a different matter when the fence is gone. So Aza, I think, learns to be strong outside the boundaries she's been controlled by before. She enters a much larger arena, which requires much more strength and drive. Previously, she had limits, and in Magonia, she doesn't. For the first time in her life, she has to choose things actively.

One of my favorite types of romances is one that begins between longtime friends like Jason and Aza. What is your all-time favorite best friend romance?

Hmmm. I think the one that influenced me most here is the one between Meg Murray and Calvin O' Keefe in Madeleine L'engle's Wrinkle In Time series. I read those when I was small, and they busted me for any other kind of romance. At the beginning of the story, Meg is an angry mess of brain and rage who comes from a loving family, and Calvin is a popular athlete who comes from a painful family, and they bond over braininess. Pretty much from the get-go, Calvin can see Meg clearly, even though she initially dislikes and mistrusts him. Their friendship is a total collaboration of equals, though later in the story things go rather skewed, in terms of gender roles. I love the beginning of their friendship/romance. That made me expect more from boys who met my strange self. I always wanted boys who could see my brain. That's what Jason sees in Aza, and it's what Aza sees in Jason too.

I'm fairly confident I would be an absolute mess on a ship, regardless of whether it was sailing the seas or skies, as likely to send myself overboard as anyone else. Graceful, party of one. If you had to work on one of the trading ships of Magonia, what set of skills would you bring to the table (or not, if you're anything like me ;-)?

I guess I could potentially become a tattoo artist. Sailor tattoos are a thing, and I have a steady hand and a notable weird fearlessness when it comes to permanent ink. I have a lot of tattoos myself. I even have a sea monster.

If tomorrow someone close to you pulled you aside and told you they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that another world besides ours existed, what would your initial reaction be and what's one thing you would hope this other world has that ours doesn't?

I'd say yes, and I would want to visit immediately, provided the parallel world were not, say, Hell. Oh, I'd even visit Hell, who am I kidding. I'm interested in hell. I'm the kind of person who goes to magic shows and doesn't want to know how the magic tricks are done. I prefer to just believe they're actually magic. A friend of mine recently referred to my version of New York as Narniyork, and that's pretty accurate. I see parallel universes everywhere I go. But if there really was another world beside ours, man, let it have equality between its people. I wish that weren't something that was considered utopian, but was just basic. We're not even close yet.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions Maria!

• • • • • • • • • • • 

MAGONIA

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air.

Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live.

So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia.

Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • • •

MARIA DAHVANA HEADLEY

Maria Dahvana Headley is the author of the upcoming young adult skyship novel MAGONIA from HarperCollins, the dark fantasy/alt-history novel QUEEN OF KINGS, the internationally bestselling memoir THE YEAR OF YES, and THE END OF THE SENTENCE, a novella co-written with Kat Howard, from Subterranean. With Neil Gaiman, she is the New York Times-bestselling co-editor of the monster anthology UNNATURAL CREATURES, benefitting 826DC.

Her Nebula and Shirley Jackson award-nominated short fiction has recently appeared on Tor.com, and in The Toast, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Nightmare, Apex, The Journal of Unlikely Entomology, Subterranean Online, Glitter & Mayhem and Jurassic London's The Lowest Heaven and The Book of the Dead, and will soon appear in Uncanny, Shimmer, and more. It's anthologized in the 2013 and 2014 editions of Rich Horton's The Year's Best Fantasy & Science Fiction, & Paula Guran's 2013 The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, in The Year's Best Weird Volume 1, ed. Laird Barron, and in Wastelands, Vol 2, among others. She's also a playwright and essayist.

She grew up in rural Idaho on a sled-dog ranch, spent part of her 20's as a pirate negotiator and ship marketer in the maritime industry, and now lives in Brooklyn in an apartment shared with a seven-foot-long stuffed crocodile.

Website • Goodreads • Twitter

Blog Tour: The Fearless

Today I'm thrilled to welcome author Emma Pass to the blog as part of the promotional tour for her newest release, The Fearless. Emma has created a horrifyingly fascinating world in this YA dystopian tale, one where a serum turns men into monsters and makes each day a battle to stay alive. As a way to introduce you to her world, I asked Emma to put together a syllabus for a class protagonist Cass might teach on how to survive against the Fearless. I hope you guys add this one to your lists, and don't forget to check the bottom of the post for the full list of participating blogs!

Hope Island Survival 101 

HOPE ISLAND
EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Survival Skills and Defence Against the Fearless – an Introduction

Class location:
School building at the back of the Exchange 

Class Meeting time:
9am – 12pm every Monday and Wednesday except for the last session which will take all day.

Instructor:
Cassandra Hollencroft

I. Rationale: 
The Fearless are a ruthless and dangerous enemy. In order to survive in the world as it is today, you will need to learn how to survive and defend yourself. This class will teach you basic survival skills such as how to find food and shelter, and basic first aid. It will also teach you about the Fearless, how to avoid them, and how to defend yourself in the event of a confrontation.

II. Course Aims and Outcomes: 
Aims
A better understanding of the threat posed by the Fearless.
A better understanding of basic survival skills.

Specific Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this course, students will:
Be able to defend themselves against attacks from the Fearless.
Be able to construct a basic shelter.
Be able to forage and hunt for food.
Have a basic understanding of weapons such as knives and guns.

III. Format:
These classes will consist of a combination of theory and practical exercises. Please make sure you wear sturdy clothing and footwear. All materials will be provided.

Class Schedule (May change to accommodate student needs):
                

April 13
A history of the Fearless and the Invasion

• Students to discuss key points that led to the worldwide collapse of society.

April 15
What is a Fearless?
How to recognise them.

• Students to memorise 5 features of the Fearless.
• Students to discuss the specific problems when confronting the Fearless.

April 20
Weapons theory

• Types of guns, knives and other weapons and how they are used. 

April 22
Weapons Practise and self defence (I)

• Practical training exercises.

April 27
Weapons practise and self defence (II)

• Practical training exercises.

April 29
Shelter

• How to make and maintain a simple shelter.

May 4
Food

• Foraging and hunting for food. How to recognise poisonous plants.

May 6
First Aid

• What to do if someone is ill or injured. The practical use of medicinal plants.

May 11
Clothing and footwear

• How to make and maintain basic clothing and footwear.

May 13
Assessment

• Assessment of skills learned (9am – 4pm)

• • • • • • • • • • • •

THE FEARLESS

For fans of The Hunger Games, Matched, Divergent, and The Fifth Wave, this fast-paced futuristic thriller tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cass and her fight to protect her younger brother from an unimaginably terrifying enemy.

The Deadliest Enemy feels no fear.

When the Fearless invaded, they injected everyone in their path with the same serum that stripped them of humanity.

Life became a waking nightmare.

Cass has the invasion seared in her memory. Seven years later, she and her brother, Jori, are living on Hope Island in a community of survivors. No one can enter, and no one can leave.

It's the only way to stay safe.

But when Hope Island's security is breeched and Jori is taken by the Fearless, Cass will risk everything to get him back.

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • • 

EMMA PASS 

Emma Pass grew up at an environmental studies centre near London, went to art school in Cornwall and now lives in the north-east Midlands, UK. Her YA dystopian thriller ACID is out from Random House Children's Books on 25th April 2013 (UK), Mondadori on 13th June 2013 (Spain) and Delacorte on 1st April 2014 (US). Another standalone thriller, The Fearless, will follow in the UK in 2014.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • • •

BLOG TOUR

Be sure and follow along for more interviews, reviews and special content!

4/20 - Addicted Readers – Interview

4/21 - My Book Muse – Review and Signed Giveaway

4/22 - Xpresso Reads – Playlist Post

4/23 - A Dream Within A Dream – Review and Signed Giveaway

4/24 - Chapter by Chapter – Review and Top Favs Interview

4/27 - Pandora’s Books – Interview

4/28 - The Irish Banana – Guest Post

4/29 - SciFi Chick.com – Guest Post

4/30 - Dark Faerie Tales – Review and Dream Character Casting

5/1 - Mundie Moms - Guest Post

5/4 - Supernatural Snark – Guest Post

5/5 – Ex Libris – Guest Post

5/6 – Step Into Fiction – Review and Signed Giveaway

5/7 – IceyBooks – Quote Candy

5/8 - A Life Bound By Books – Interview

Author Interview: Stacey Kade

I'm so pleased today to welcome author Stacey Kade back to the blog to answer a few questions about the second book in her Project Paper Doll series, The Hunt. I absolutely adore this series, especially protagonists Ariane and Zane, and can't recommend it enough to those of you who have yet to give it a try. If you enjoy smart characters, a little romance and more than a few sci-fi twists, then the Project Paper Doll books should not be missed. Thanks so much for stopping by today Stacey!

We’re lucky enough to get the perspectives of both Ariane and Zane in this series. What’s the trickiest or most fun aspect of switching from one character’s head to the other’s when writing?

I love being able to write in both perspectives. I feel like it helps pull me into the story more deeply. The hardest parts, though, are 1) making sure I’m not repeating too much when I’m switching POV in a shared scene and 2) determining whose POV we should be in for a particular scene or moment.

Generally speaking, you want to be in the perspective of the person who has the most to lose or the person making the decision. But sometimes with two main characters, both of whom have goals and needs, that’s not so clear cut. I must confess, I’ve started plenty of scenes only to get a few paragraphs in and realize it doesn’t “feel” right and that I need to be in the other POV. :)

Ariane has an advantage over Zane in that she can hear what he’s thinking and is always aware of how he’s feeling. If he were gifted Ariane’s ability for one single moment in The Hunt, what moment would he have most wanted the opportunity to hear thoughts?

Oh, Zane, poor guy. I think it would help him so much just to understand HOW she thinks at any time and that she cares for him deeply, regardless of what she feels obligated to do. But specifically, I think he would have most wanted that ability to understand what she was thinking right after they meet the hybrids. Or, perhaps at the end, when he realizes Ariane’s rescue plan is too risky and not what he thinks it should be. (I’m trying to be careful to avoid too many spoilers!)

We get to meet a few of the other hybrids in this book. What’s one word Ariane would use to describe each of them? One word Zane would use?

For Ariane, I think she’d describe Ford as protective, Carter as shy, and Nixon as inscrutable.

For Zane, he’d describe Ford as dangerous, Carter as manipulative, and Nixon as…well, probably creepy.

Though Ford, Carter, and Nixon’s lives growing up with Dr. Laughlin were clearly as difficult as Ariane’s life with Dr. Jacobs, their experiences were also very different. Having spent time in both labs, how curious and/or terrified would Ariane say she is about the hybrids and the lab belonging to the mysterious Emerson St. John?

Ariane would be loath to say that she’s grateful to Dr. Jacobs for anything…AT ALL. But I think she can see that he, quite unintentionally and not for her benefit, gave her a better life by sending her to live with Mark rather than keeping her in the lab for all those years.

That being said, she’s extremely curious about the hybrids. They are the closest thing she has to siblings, to true family. Sometimes I think we look to our families to help define ourselves. “My family is good at music.” Or, “my family loves to read.” Ariane doesn’t have that. So, I think she’s looking to them for further definition of herself. She’s seeking similarities. But their upbringing was so different, it’s really difficult for her to tell what is nature and what was nurture. 

Ariane and Zane would probably love nothing more than to get away from everyone pursuing them and strike out on their own without fear of being caught. If they could set up a new life anywhere in the world, where would they most like to end up?

Ariane has repeatedly brought up the beach and the ocean. Wanting to see it, at least. Zane, being someone who enjoys outdoor sports, is probably sick of the endless Wisconsin winters. So, somewhere in California, perhaps? San Diego, maybe. I’m betting Zane could get into surfing. :)

We’re left with things a bit up in the air for Ariane and Zane. What book has the cruelest cliffhanger you’ve ever come across and how long was the wait for the next book in the series?

Oh, gosh, I’m trying to remember now. I love Sarah Rees Brennan’s books, and I’m fairly certain she is the master of cruel endings and reader tears. (But in the best way possible!)

As a writing exercise, let’s say you’re asked to write yourself into any one of your books. Which book would you choose and what role would you play?

You know, it’s funny, I think most authors would admit that there’s a little bit of us in each one of our characters. Not just protagonists, but the villains and secondary characters too. And honestly, such horrible things happen to the characters in my books, I’m not sure I would want to be in any of their shoes! :)

That being said, weirdly enough, the characters I relate to the most, the ones who make mistakes that I’ve made are Lily in The Ghost and the Goth and…I’m almost reluctant to admit it, Jenna in The Rules. High school was not a happy time for me, and I made some decidedly unwise choices. :) I think both of them reflect that in different ways.

But for fun and melodrama, I’d love to play Rachel Jacobs. She’s just awful, and that would be a blast to enact. I think this is why actors always want to play villains! 

• • • • • • • • • •

STACEY KADE

(photo: Vania Stoyanova)

As a former award-winning corporate copywriter, Stacey Kade has written about everything from backhoe loaders to breast pumps. But she prefers to make things up instead.

She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg, and their two retired racing greyhounds, Tall Walker (Walker) and SheWearsThePants (Pansy).

Website • Blog • Twitter

• • • • • • • • • •

THE HUNT
 

Ariane Tucker has finally escaped GTX, the research facility that created her. While on the run, Zane Bradshaw is the only person she can trust. He knows who-and what-she is and still wants to be part of her life.

But accepting Zane's help means putting him in danger.

Dr. Jacobs, head of GTX, is not the only one hunting for Ariane. Two rival corporations have their sights set on taking down their competition. Permanently. To protect Zane and herself, Ariane needs allies. She needs the other hybrids. The hybrids who are way more alien and a lot less human. Can Ariane win them over before they turn on her? Or will she be forced to choose sides, to decide who lives and who dies?

Goodreads  • Amazon • B&N

Interview: Amie Kaufman + Meagan Spooner

I'm so pleased today to welcome authors Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner to the blog to answer a few questions about their outstanding YA science fiction novel, These Broken Stars. I read These Broken Stars a while back and fell madly in love with it, but due to crazy schedules on both sides, I'm just now getting this interview up and I'm so excited to share it with all of you! If you haven't had the chance to read These Broken Stars yet, I can't recommend it enough.

We don’t get to spend too much time on the Icarus before tragedy strikes, so our glimpse of the grandeur of her is fleeting. If you both were on-board as first-class guests, how would your days likely be spent?

Gosh, what wouldn’t we do? We’d hang out in the salon a little (like Tarver, we’d want to check out the books) and we’d want to explore the huge gardens, and the viewing decks where you can see the colours of hyperspace—imagine the Northern Lights—whirling past the glass dome. And then someone would work out we’re writers, and march us down to third-class where we belong!

Lilac and Tarver get off to a bit of a rocky start, each finding themselves stranded with someone who doesn’t particularly care for them. If in those early days they could have handpicked a companion from a different young adult novel to replace the one they were with, who would each of them have chosen?

Wow, that’s a tough question! Tarver probably would have picked someone tough and capable, maybe June from Marie Lu’s Legend series. When they first crashed, Lilac had no idea what she was in for, so she would’ve likely picked someone who would be better company, rather than someone competent. She would’ve enjoyed palling around with Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games, or Persis Blake from Across a Star-Swept Sea. (Though of course, Persis actually IS competent, she just hides it well!)

You both end up on the escape pod with Lilac and Tarver, crash landing with them on an unknown planet. What’s one quality or skill each of you possesses that would come in handy given your circumstances?

Amie: I don’t think we’d be anyone’s companion of choice, but I do know how to start a fire, so that’s something. If we were truly shipwrecked I’d be much more useful—I’ve been sailing since before I took my first steps.

Meg: I don’t run very fast, so if anything came after us it’d probably eat me before it’d eat any of the others. I imagine they’d find that pretty handy.

After enduring weeks in a survival situation like Lilac and Tarver’s, what is the first comfort food you would seek out upon being rescued?

Amie: Giant hamburger. I’ve done a lot of hiking, and that’s always one of two things I daydream about while I’m away from it all. The other is fresh, crunchy apples.

Meg: Korean-style fried chicken, and lots of chocolate afterward.

What is a favorite line from the book each of you has that was written by the other person?

Amie: There are so, so many things Meg wrote that are just beautiful and lyrical. It’s so hard to choose one! There’s one, though, that conjures up an image I adore:

Tarver lowers himself down again, arm circling my waist. His voice is soft and warm by my hear. “What is this place?”

I have no answer for him, and we watch the false moon in silence. For a dizzying moment I see us as if from above, a tiny lump in the blue-black sea of grass, nearly swallowed by the vastness of the plains.

Meg: Amie’s pretty much hilarious, and that comes through in Tarver’s personality and not-so-hidden sense of snark. I still laugh at some of the things he says, despite having read them over dozens of times by now. One of my favorites happens very early on, when Tarver’s struggling with how difficult it is to drag Lilac through the woods. He asks if she wants to take a break, and here’s her reply:

She considers the question, then nods, reaching up to tuck her hair back where it belongs. “Where will I sit?”

Sit? Why, on this comfortable chaise lounge I’ve carried here for you in my pocket, Your Highness, so glad you asked.

I clamp my mouth shut, struggling not to say it aloud.

Thank you so much Amie and Meg!

• • • • • • • • • • •

THESE BROKEN STARS

It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.
 

Find Amie:

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon

Find Meagan:

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon

Review: Nil

NIL
Lynne Matson
Young Adult/Adventure/Survival
384 pages
Henry Holt
Available March 4th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
On the mysterious island of Nil, the rules are set. You have one year. Exactly 365 days--to escape, or you die.

Seventeen-year-old Charley doesn’t know the rules. She doesn’t even know where she is. The last thing she remembers is blacking out, and when she wakes up, she’s lying naked in an empty rock field.

Lost and alone, Charley finds no sign of other people until she meets Thad, the gorgeous leader of a clan of teenage refugees. Soon Charley learns that leaving the island is harder than she thought . . . and so is falling in love. With Thad’s time running out, Charley realizes that to save their future, Charley must first save him. And on an island rife with dangers, their greatest threat is time.

MY THOUGHTS
Nil is a beautiful blend of elements, seamlessly weaving together adventure, romance and a little science fiction to keep the wheels in our minds constantly turning as we attempt to solve the many riddles the island has to offer. Ms. Matson keeps us on our toes throughout, the number of days Thad has left before his year runs out a pressure on our chests that grows more intense by the chapter, his impending doom making us twitch nervously with every flip of the page because we know it's bringing us one step closer to his end. As we struggle with the possibility of losing Thad when he hits day 365, we also take on an almost hyper-vigilance when we're with Charley, frantically trying to use her eyes to find the answers Nil seems intent on keeping from all of us, adrenaline pumping as we're constantly on the lookout for any clues that will see all Nil's inhabitants home safe and sound.

We spend our time evenly split between the perspectives of both Charley and Thad, the combination of island newcomer with island veteran a fascinating mix that allows us to approach the mysteries of Nil from a number of different angles rather than just one. As a result, we're able to see the island for the contrast it is: exquisite and cruel, safe and treacherous, and life and death; its secrets holding us transfixed as we wonder how everything for Charley, Thad and the rest of the young survivors will play out. This is a story where every page taunts us, daring us to flip ahead and learn the things we most want to know before we're meant to know them, and as the body count rises and the romance between Charley and Thad deepens, the harder that taunt becomes to resist.

Charley is an easily likable young woman, someone who takes her arrival on Nil in stride even when its dark side is fully revealed, jumping into the day to day life with both feet as she attempts to find her place amidst those who have been there far longer. She's a team player from the beginning, as is nearly everyone on the island, the sense of camaraderie between all of them both joyful and painful to see given the death sentence they all live with each and every day. Where Charley is all shiny newness, able to find some beauty in the island, Thad is more gritty realism, his time on Nil having taken its toll and robbed him of some of his hope. He's not overly negative by any means, but for him Nil is a sentient being–a prodigy in a game of survival being played unrelentingly, and one who has the decks stacked in her favor. Charley and Thad prove to fit together perfectly though, both opening the other's eyes to a way of seeing that increases their chances of making it home, partners in the truest sense of the word who we're rooting for with every fiber of our being.

The romance is prominent enough to make sure our hearts are in danger of breaking should things for either Charley or Thad not work out as we're desperately hoping they will, but the adventure and mystery aspect is the primary focus and the piece of this story that keeps us up late even though we know we'll pay for it the morning. The fact that the island of Nil remains as much a mystery at the end as it did at the beginning is both disappointing and not, our curiosity of course demanding answers for the how's and why's of everything we've seen, but in the back of our minds we know that any attempt at an actual explanation for Nil would have dulled this book's shine. Part of the appeal of the story is in the questions we're left with, ones that let us fill in the blanks as we see fit so that we become active participants rather than mere observers, and we can't help but find some satisfaction in the imagining.

Rating: 4/5 

Find Lynne:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Interview: Mindee Arnett + Avalon

I'm super excited today to welcome young adult author Mindee Arnett back to the blog to answer a few questions about her new sci-fi release, Avalon. I fell a little in love with Mindee after reading least year's The Nightmare Affair, and Avalon only further solidified that love. She writes fantastic characters and hugely entertaining stories, so if you haven't had a chance to read either of her books I hope you add them to your lists immediately!

If you could spend one day aboard a fictional spacecraft from any book, movie or TV show, which one would top your list?

Ah! I love this question. I would definitely have to go with the TARDIS from Doctor Who. It can go anywhere in space and time. Plus is has a swimming pool, a library, racquet ball court. Heck, it probably has stables in there somewhere. That makes it impossible to beat.

Jeth is our protagonist, so we get glimpses of his thoughts and feelings toward every member of his elite team of thieves. What’s one word each member of the team might use to describe him?

Okay, I’m going to cheat with this one and provide phrases.

Lizzie: “butthead but I love him”
Celeste: “handsome but not my type”
Flynn: “can kick my ass but I’m okay with that”
Shady: “thinks he can kick my ass but I’d like to see him try”
Milton: “hard of hearing and thinking”

Of course, you could really add “but I love him” to all of these phrases, because Jeth’s crew definitely does.  

You’ve joined the crew aboard Avalon and are hovering just outside the boundary for the Belgrave Quadrant. What’s the last thought running through your head as you cross into it?

Is there any way to leave a trail of bread crumbs in space?

There’s some pretty fabulous futuristic technology in this book. What gadget from Jeth’s world do you wish existed in ours?

Metatech all the way. I know, of course, that faster than light travel is impossible, but if it were, could you imagine what we might learn and discover out there in the big wide universe? So often in our modern world it feels as if there’s nothing new under the sun, but that would all change if we could travel through space without it taking multiple lifetimes.

Jeth is clearly a very capable team leader, staying cool and calm even when his mission seems like it might be headed south. Celeste works closest with him in the field, so she must have witnessed an episode or two where Jeth wasn’t quite as together as he is when we meet him. Does she have a funny and/or embarrassing Jeth moment she can share with us?

Celeste definitely does! More like repeat offenders. The truth is Jeth was very clumsy at fifteen when they first started working together. He just hadn’t grown into his body. So early on, Celeste dreaded anytime she had to hand him something on the sly. He had a tendency to drop it. Oh, and she is extremely grateful that none of their jobs ever required them to dance. Her feet wouldn’t have survived. Fortunately, at 17 Jeth has grown into himself and is much slicker.

Let’s say Jeth and his crew grew up in today’s world rather than their world of intergalactic space travel. Obviously they wouldn’t be able to pilot various spacecrafts, so who would you guess might accumulate the largest number of traffic tickets or moving violations?

I think Jeth and Celeste would be tied. They both love to go fast.

For the entire crew, but particularly Jeth, Avalon is more than a ship; she’s a vital member of the team and a character unto herself. Even though she’s inanimate, how might Jeth describe her personality?

Jeth would describe her as steadfast. It’s an old, kind of hokey term, but also true. Avalon is like his noble steed that will carry him safely through any battle. She’s the Silver to his Lone Ranger, the Black to his Alec, the Artax to his Atreyu. Minus the drowning in the Swamps of Sadness thing, of course. At least in book 1. Book 2 however…joking…mostly…mwhahahaha!

*The mere mention of Artax in this interview had me sobbing via email to Mindee. I can't help it, okay? I simply cannot deal with that horse sinking in the swamp! *curls into a fetal ball*

As always, thanks for such a superb interview! Truly a highlight :)

*Thank you so much, Mindee!

• • • • • • • • • • • 

AVALON

Of the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free. The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing: metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light.

Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech, and they're damn good at it. Jeth doesn't care about the politics or the law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his parents' ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he'll go to get the freedom he's wanted for so long.

Goodreads • Amazon

• • • • • • • • • • •

MINDEE ARNETT

Mindee Arnett lives on a horse farm in Ohio with her husband, two kids, a couple of dogs, and an inappropriate number of cats. She’s addicted to jumping horses and telling tales of magic, the macabre, and outer space. She has far more dreams than nightmares. 

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Review: Cress

CRESS
The Lunar Chronicles #3
Marissa Meyer
Young Adult/Sci-Fi/Fairytale Retelling
560 pages
Feiwel & Friends
Available February 4th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
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.

MY THOUGHTS
Cress is a story we enter into with a great deal of excitement, though as was the case with Scarlet we can’t help but let a little wariness sneak in and mingle with our enthusiasm, wondering if it’s going to be this installment when the addition of yet another new main character proves to be a detriment to the overall story rather than a bonus. While Cress as a stand-alone heroine isn’t quite as strong as either Cinder or Scarlet before her, Ms. Meyer proves yet again what a brilliant storyteller she truly is, seamlessly working Cress into the fabric of her stunningly rich and detailed fantasy world and nestling her in with an already-beloved cast of characters as though she’d been there all along.

Cress, unlike both Cinder and Scarlet, isn’t much of a fighter either mentally or physically, her solitary confinement creating in her an air of extreme innocence and vulnerability that takes a little while to adjust to coming off our experiences with the previous two heroines. While each young woman’s original fairytale had them as damsels in various types of distress, both Scarlet and Cinder defied that label in terms of its common connotation to weakness in their retellings, their independence and fierceness present and accounted for. Cress embraces the damsel in distress label a little more fully, often needing the hilarious and endlessly amusing Captain Thorne to come to her aid. It’s not to say she’s without skills as she’s a truly gifted hacker and plays a significant and vital role in the events of this book, she’s just perhaps quieter and more reserved (understandably given what she’s gone through) than we might have been anticipating.

If this had been Cress’s book alone, one that focused primarily on her and relegated Cinder to a more supporting role, this installment may have come up just a touch short when compared to the first two, but Cress is beautifully bolstered by Ms Meyer’s extraordinary and extensive cast of main and secondary characters. This story is every bit as much Cinder’s as it is Cress’s, and as a result Cress becomes a little something different–a beautiful contrast–to the two young women we’ve already met, rounding out the whole with her differences as opposed to coming off as less-than as she might have on her own. Her relationship with Thorne is a touch weaker as well, but again the strength of Cinder’s relationship with Kai and particularly Scarlet’s with Wolf (despite their limited page time) more than fills in any empty spaces left by the lack of an overly strong emotional connection to the pair of them, and we can only hope that their romance is one that continues to develop in Winter just as the other two romances progressed in this installment.

While there is a myriad of positive aspects and highlights to Cress over which to gush, one of the most arguably striking would have to be the very brief introduction to Winter herself, a young woman who captivates from the moment she appears on page and leaves us profoundly curious after a single interaction with Scarlet. She is a series of riddles, a labyrinthine character full of dark corners and wrong turns who has us practically salivating over the chance to figure her out, but despite the pain of a long wait until she graces us with more of her presence, we are left in awe of Ms. Meyer’s imagination and more in love with her characters than ever before.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Marissa

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Avalon

AVALON
Avalon #1
Mindee Arnett
Young Adult/Science Fiction
432 pages
Balzer + Bray
Available Now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Of the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free. The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing: metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light.

Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech, and they're damn good at it. Jeth doesn't care about the politics or the law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his parents' ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he'll go to get the freedom he's wanted for so long.

MY THOUGHTS
Avalon is a thrilling deep space adventure, drawing us in on page one and never releasing its hold on us until we unfortunately find ourselves at the final chapter. What can sometimes be trying with first books in a new series is all the setup with very little resolution, the overall series plot arc combining with any number of smaller threads to ensure we reach the end with no shortage of questions, but Ms. Arnett thankfully gives us a full, rich story in Avalon. One very large aspect of this tale is left open to make sure the series has legs to propel it forward, but so many of the little pieces are beautifully and deftly slotted into place both plot-wise and character-wise, leaving us blissfully satisfied with this first installment.

Jeth is nothing short of a joy, delighting us simply by being male when we crack the spine given young male protagonists are still something of a rarity, but our interest in him and affection for him quickly moves far beyond gender as his love for his younger sister and the rest of his team of thieves becomes glaringly apparent. There's absolutely nothing he wouldn't do for any one of them, and as he and his crew travel deeper into uncharted territory we begin to get tiny, fleeting inklings of how that protective streak might cause a world of problems for him down the line, the hairs on the back of our necks standing on end in nervous anticipation. He's not the type to martyr himself though, throwing himself on his proverbial sword at every available opportunity, instead he's a fighter, intent on reaching his goals with his friends and family by his side but yet painfully aware of what the price of achieving those goals could be.

In addition to Jeth, we're treated to a stellar group of secondary characters, his whole team of widely varying personalities causing a smile to flit across our faces and a sense of determination to settle in our guts as we have no other choice but to root for this group as they take on the worst several galaxies' worth of humanity has to offer. The villains of Avalon are every bit as intriguing as Jeth and his crew, albeit in a very different way, with ringleader and crime lord Hammer Dafoe inspiring in us more hate than we might have thought ourselves capable of feeling. His cruelty isn't always on page for us to see, instead Ms. Arnett chooses to build our fear and anger quietly–much the way Hammer himself instills fear in those around him–whispers of his deeds reaching our ears and slithering their way inside before running through our blood like poison until we want nothing more than to see him get his comeuppance.

As mentioned previously, this story concludes with one important aspect of Jeth's world unresolved, but the rest of this first installment is wrapped up nicely, leaving us free of the frustrating desperation cliffhangers often cause. The setting and the space technology, while futuristic and fantastical in nature, are easy enough to picture and follow even if we might not fully understand the ins and outs of all the science, combining with a well-rounded cast of characters full of stunning strengths and flaws to create an impressive beginning to this new series.

Rating: 4/5

Find Mindee:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Minders

MINDERS
Michele Jaffe
Young Adult/Dystopian
400 pages
Razorbill
Available January 30th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Q: If the boy you love commits a crime, would you turn him in?

Sadie Ames is a type-A teenager from the wealthy suburbs. She's been accepted to the prestigious Mind Corps Fellowship program, where she'll spend six weeks as an observer inside the head of Ford, a troubled boy with a passion for the crumbling architecture of the inner city. There's just one problem: Sadie's fallen in love with him.

Q: What if the crime is murder?

Ford Winters is haunted by the murder of his older brother, James. As Sadie falls deeper into his world, dazzled by the shimmering pinpricks of color that form images in his mind, she begins to think she knows him. Then Ford does something unthinkable.

Q: What if you saw it happen from inside his mind?

Back in her own body, Sadie is faced with the ultimate dilemma. With Ford's life in her hands, she must decide what is right and what is wrong. And how well she can really ever know someone, even someone she loves.

MY THOUGHTS
Minders is a nebulous story, clarity coalescing and dissolving from one chapter to the next, dancing fluidly through the grasp of our fingers as we observe Sadie’s observation of Ford. We come to realize, however, that much of the beauty of it lies in the hazy area between full understanding and incomprehension, allowing our minds to fill in the pockets of space Ms. Jaffe leaves open, welcoming us into her story so we feel as though we had a hand in the telling of it simply through our bond with Sadie and Ford.

The setup of this story is particularly fascinating for the effect it has on our relationship to the characters, our connection to Ford formed through Sadie’s knowledge of him, and even more interestingly, our connection to Sadie formed at a slower pace through her reactions to Ford. We know very little of Sadie before she steps into Ford’s mind, but as she discovers what his emotions feel, taste, and smell like and begins to really see him from the inside out, we begin to see her, Ford’s mind every bit as much a window into Sadie’s emotional makeup as it is his own. As she oh-so slowly begins to fall for him–easily taking us with her into the unknown–we too begin to fall for her, the pair of them inexorably linked for us; as much a single unit as they are separate entities.

The romance then is so beautifully unconventional, Sadie privy to things no teenage boy would likely want a young woman to experience with him, and because he’s completely unaware of her presence for majority of the book, the relationship is strictly–and at times painfully–one-sided. As a result, there’s a special type of heaviness that winds its way through this story, Ford’s stunning mind a maelstrom of guilt, anger, and shame, and absolutely teeming with repressed memories regarding his late brother, each chapter seeming to draw both Sadie and us closer to him and push us away at the same time. He does things that cause Sadie pain, our knowledge of his complete lack of awareness regarding her presence and feelings doing nothing to alleviate the sting of marks left in the wake of his actions, and though we can hardly blame him for his decisions, we can’t help but hope Sadie will find a way to make herself known.

Minders will not be a story for everyone, there’s almost a muted quality to it since we’re experiencing everything with Ford through Sadie, but in many ways our connection to each of them is even deeper given we have access to pieces of them they likely would never show anyone willingly. We’re inside their heads trying desperately to locate the path that will instead lead us to their hearts, often getting tangled and lost along the way, but we’re left with a strong sense of hope and a hesitant smile, comforted in the future we think we see for the two of them.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Michele:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Ultraviolet Catastrophe

ULTRAVIOLET CATASTROPHE
Jamie Grey
Young Adult/Sci-fi
350 pages
Self-published
Available now
Source: author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Quantum Electrodynamics. String Theory. Schrödinger's cat. For sixteen-year-old Lexie Kepler, they’re just confusing terms in her science textbooks, until she finds out that her parents have been drugging her to suppress her outrageous IQ. Now Branston Academy, a school run by the world’s most powerful scientists, has tracked her down and is dying for her to attend - as a research subject.

She takes refuge at Quantum Technologies, a secret scientific community where her father works as a top-notch scientist, and begins her new life as girl genius at Quantum High. But the assignments at her new school make the Manhattan Project look like preschool - and Lexie barely survived freshman algebra.

Her first big assignment – creating an Einstein-Rosen bridge – is also her first chance to prove she can hold her own with the rest of QT's prodigies. But while working with the infuriatingly hot Asher Rosen, QT’s teen wonder, Lexie uncovers a mistake in their master equation. Instead of a wormhole, the machine they’re building would produce deadly ultraviolet rays that could destroy the world. Now Lexie and Asher have to use their combined brainpower to uncover the truth behind the device. Before everyone at Quantum Technologies is caught in the ultraviolet catastrophe.

MY THOUGHTS
With a synopsis full of hugely intimidating words like “quantum electrodynamics”, we can’t help but enter into this story a bit wary, wondering if Lexie’s aptitude for the more mathematical sciences and her enormous IQ might leave us eating her mental dust, overwhelmed and struggling with what comes so easily to her. Despite the aforementioned daunting words tossed around on occasion however, Lexie’s story is an easy one to settle into, her hurt and confusion over her parents’ dishonesty slicing through any hesitancy we might have had before cracking the spine like butter, instantly having us up in arms and ready to do battle on her behalf.

Not only do we quickly find ourselves at Lexie’s back–ready to deliver a verbal blow or two to parents who put her at a serious disadvantage with regard to both Quantum High and her understanding of who she is–but we also share in her nervousness in starting at a new school where she’s already monstrously behind. She therefore feels like a friend from the get-go, and while there is a bit of a push-pull between her and her parents wherein she gets angry at them and then seems to forgive them easily in turn, her reactions are understandable given the extent of her parents' lies, even if their intentions were honorable. Her attraction to Asher feels genuine and progresses at a deliciously slow place as they both find themselves distracted with very complicated scientific projects, giving us a nice balance between flirtation and mystery to ensure we’re invested in every chapter.

Though the ultimate bad guy is fairly easy to detect early on, the characters and the scientific aspect of the plot are extremely engaging, making Ultraviolet Catastrophe a book that easily fits into the category of a one-sit read. There’s some character backstory with both Lexie and Asher’s parents that could have been poked and prodded a bit more until it coughed up their secrets, but all in all, our time with the two of them is time well-spent and we close the back cover with a complete story and a satisfied grin in place.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Jamie:

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This book was sent to me by the author free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.