Remnants: Season of Wonder by Lisa T. Bergren

 ABOUT THE BOOK:

Andriana is a Remnant, one of the gifted teens born on the seventh day during the seventy-seventh Harvest after the Great War, and destined to act as humanity’s last shield against the horrors that now plague those who remain.

After years of training in stealth and warfare, Andriana and her Knight protector, Ronan, are finally ready to answer the Call and begin the life they were designed for. But as they embark with the other Remnants on the first of their assignments, they quickly discover that the world beyond their protected Valley home is more dangerous than they imagined.

The Sons of Sheol will stop at nothing to prevent Dri and Ronan from rescuing anyone sympathetic to the Remnants’ cause. And as the Remnants attempt to battle the demonic forces, other enemies close in. Dangers intensify, but so do Dri's feelings for Ronan--the one emotion she is not meant to feel. In the midst of their mission, Andriana must find a way to master her feelings, or risk compromising everything.

MY REVIEW:

 I think that Dystopian and YA are two of my favorite genre's to read which made REMNANTS a story that I thoroughly enjoyed. From the very beginning of the book when Andriana and Ronan escape the evil forces that will haunt them throughout their journey, to the very end where we are left with many unanswered questions and a burgeoning forbidden love, REMNANTS took me on a roller-coaster adventure that has me breathlessly waiting for more!

I loved the characters of REMNANTS. Each one of the Remnants has a gift that The Maker has given them to use for his purpose. I think Ronan may be my favorite character of the group. Just because he makes such a hunky knight-in-shining-armor...oh wait, wrong era! He is Andriana's knight though, without the shining armor part. I'm kind of partial to men that protect women.

While the Remnants are definitely on mission for The Maker I did not find the story overly preachy. Spiritual forces abound in the forms of both good and evil, but it seems that evil is prevailing. I'm looking forward to book two to see what unfolds next!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lisa T. Bergren 
Lisa T. Bergren is the author of over forty books, with a combined count of over 2.5 million copies sold.

She has written best-selling children’s books, award-winning YA (River of Time Series: Waterfall), popular historical fiction, contemporary fiction, women’s nonfiction, and gift books. She is a writer and editor residing in Colorado Springs, CO, with her husband and three children. You can find out more about Lisa at LisaBergren.com.

 

Check out other books that I have read and reviewed by Lisa:

The River of Time Series:

Waterfall
Cascade
Torrent
Bourne
Tributary

The Grand Tour Series:

Glamorous Illusions
Grave Consequences
Glittering Promises

To purchase Remnants:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1sw88q4

B&N: http://bit.ly/1eon8x9

BAM: http://bit.ly/1edUmos

GIVEAWAY!!!!

Author Lisa T. Bergren is giving away a signed copy of Remnants to one winner on my blog today. Leave a comment to be entered to win.

United We Spy by Ally Carter

This is Cammie and her friends last semester at The Gallagher Academy. Cammie is determined to take down The Circle. Zach's mom is just as determined to take Cammie out. Not knowing who they can trust the girls and Zach go out on their own and off the grid to rescue a friend.

I'm sad to say this is the last Gallagher Girl book in the series! But I'm happy to say it is one of my favorites and kept me on the edge of my seat and biting my nails every step of the way. I'm also happy to say that I managed not to read the end of the book before I got there! Yes, when the tension is running high in a book I am one of "those" people who has to make sure everything turns out alright! But I didn't, and YES, it was very tempting, but YES again it was worth the suspense to wait for the very end. A great ending to the series for sure. If you are a fan of spy novels, strong girl characters, a bit of romance, young adult literature and lots of action then I highly recommend The Gallagher Girl series for you. Looking forward to seeing what's next from this author.

I purchased my copy from Amazon and was not required to give a review. 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

All growing up Jacob's grandfather has told him stories of a levitating girl, and invisible boy and other "peculiar" children. When he was younger Jacob believed these stories to be real. But now that he is a teenager his parents have convinced him that his grandfather's stories were just that, stories.

When Jacob's grandfather dies in his arms Jacob sees something that causes him to have nightmares and his parents to send him to a psychiatrist. Determined to find the place that his grandfather talked about all of his life, Jacob talks his father into taking a trip to an island so his father can study the bird life and unbeknownst to his father, Jacob can look for Miss Peregrine(the headmistress of the peculiar children).

Unfortunately Jacob isn't the only one looking for the Peculiar's and he may unwittingly open the door for evil to invade their world. 

My Thoughts:

First off, how could a person resist wanting to read this book just from the cover alone? The little girl is levitating! How creepy is that? With the foggy shrouded background and done in black and white, this cover has always caught my attention.

 Now, if you haven't read the book you may not want to read this review any further as there may be a bit of spoilers, although I will try not to *wink*

I found that I enjoyed the story. It started out moving along pretty quickly. I think it bogged down a bit in the middle, but picked up once again towards the end. I found the peculiar children to be interesting. I should say, adults living in children's bodies. Of course they all remembered Jacob's grandfather. Especially Emma, who had a relationship with him when he was among the peculiars. I found her and Jacob's attraction for each other to be a bit weird in that I felt she was seeing Jacob's grandfather instead of Jacob. Throughout the book there are black and white pictures of the different characters which helped give the reader an image of the authors description. I found the loops and such to be a bit confusing. Especially in the end when the children were talking about hopping from year to year. But I'm not up on my time-travel information so someone more savvy than I would probably "get it" better. Also I found the reason why the "Hollows" are wanting Miss Peregrine and others like her a little bit confusing. Hopefully those questions will be answered in the second book Hollow City coming out in January 2014(there's a commercial for you). So, if you like characters that are peculiar(an invisible boy etc.), and you like a bit of time travel or time loops or time warps(whatever the correct terminology is), I would recommend picking up Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children.

I received my copy of the book from the publisher Quirk Books. This review is my honest opinion.

Cress by Marissa Meyer

YES! I was able to read an ARC copy of CRESS borrowed from my friend Karin! Here is a copy of the book I read:

The big cover reveal was this past week and as with the other two books in the Lunar Chronicle series it does not disappoint:

MY REVIEW:

I am a huge fan of series. I love them! I'm addicted to them. I can't seem to ever have enough of them. I'm obsessed with collecting every book in the series. Sometimes though I have gotten disappointed in a series and thought about actually not buying any future books in that series...That is so not the case in The Lunar Chronicles!! Each book so far has been just as good as the very first one. CRESS does not disappoint from the opening pages to the very end. The Lunar Chronicles have become one of my favorite series of all-time.

As you can tell from the cover there is a take on the Rapunzel fairy tale in CRESS. Instead of the princess stuck in the tower though Cress has been stuck in a Satellite for 7 years monitoring Earth for her Lunar Mistress Sybil. Dreaming of someday being rescued by a handsome prince, Cress spends her days alone entertained only by her dreams and the monitors that fill her satellite.

Cinder and the rest of the cast are all back in CRESS. Cinder and Captain Thorne are still on the run from Queen Levana's army. They are now joined by Wolf and Scarlet. Cinder is trying to find a way to stop the wedding between Emperor Kai and Queen Levana without starting a war of epic proportions. When they all become separated it looks like their mission is doomed. With Lunar ships waiting outside of Earth's atmosphere it is only a matter of time before Queen Levana's wishes are granted and she becomes supreme ruler of all.

With each book and each added character I become more of a fan of these books. Captain Thorne as the worldly rogue and Cress as the innocent and naive make the perfect couple! Cinder and Kai seem like a lost hope with Kai going to marry Levana, but all hope is not lost for them as a couple. Wolf and Scarlet are not very prominent in CRESS, but their relationship has developed and there is a strong bond between them. Then I think my favorite character is the robot Iko! She cracks me up with her antics of trying to be human. She is quite entertaining.

The ARC copy of CRESS has 550 pages in it and I have to say I was disappointed when I turned that last page! The published copy doesn't come out until February 2014 which means the last book in the series will not be published until 2015. That is a LONG time to wait for the ending of this wonderful series. If you haven't picked up The Lunar Chronicles yet I would say they are a MUST READ. Here are my reviews of CINDER and SCARLET.

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Little Red Riding Hood complete with hood and a Big Bad Wolf!

Scarlet and her grandmother are farmers. They sell their produce to the local stores and taverns in the nearby town. When Scarlet first meets Wolf she is startled by his looks, yet drawn to him. They are soon thrown together in the search of Scarlet's missing grandmother.

In the meantime Cinder is working at escaping prison before the Lunar Queen Levana has her put to death. Cinder and renegade Captain Thorne set out to find why Cinder is so important to the Queen and to hopefully find out more information about the dead princess Selena.

Both Scarlet and Cinder find secrets about themselves that have been kept from them for years. Will they be able to grasp who they each are before it is too late for the people of earth?

Scarlet was every bit as good as Cinder! I was not disappointed...well maybe a little bit at the ending, but only because Scarlet ends with a HUGE cliffhanger! I enjoyed reading Scarlet's story and her attraction to Wolf(there are a couple of sigh-worthy tender moments!). But I also enjoyed jumping back into Cinder's story and to read how both Scarlet and Cinder's lives collide. A bit of romance, a bit of suspense all set in a dystopian world~doesn't get much better than that!

Thanks to my friend Karin at Karin's Book Nook(and the Edgy half of Edifying and Edgy) for allowing me to borrow her ARC copy of Scarlet. Karin received her copy at TXLA in Houston in April. Scarlet will be available in February 2013 and I plan on buying a hardback copy to go with my copy of Cinder. Love the covers!

Monsters of Men(Chaos Walking #3)by Patrick Ness

WAR!

The Spackle are determined to get revenge on the humans(The Clearing). Spackle 1017 has a personal agenda to kill Todd. In 1017's eyes Todd helped the humans kill 1017's partner. The Spackle have a weapon of destruction that the humans had never seen before. A weapon that shoots flames that will incinerate whomever and whatever is in the line of fire. The humans are also significantly outnumbered by the Spackle.

Mayor Prentiss has been waiting for this war. It is almost like he craves destruction. Todd is keeping close tabs on the mayor. Todd has never wanted war with the Spackle. He desires peace. Todd also knows that Mayor Prentiss is getting into his head. He has given Todd the ability to quiet his noise. No longer can people hear every thought that Todd has.

Viola is with the scout ship that has just landed. There are 5000 more people coming to land and Viola is afraid that what they will land into is a planet destroyed by war. She and the pilots of the ship are trying to negotiate peace with the Spackle. But Viola is extremely sick from the band that the Mayor had put on all women. It is eating away at her arm, causing pain and sickness.

Mistress Coyle is determined to be the leader of her own band of rebels. Still bent on destroying the Mayor she enlists the help of several other mistresses to enact terrorist acts upon the Mayor and his army.

When Mayor Prentiss realizes that Todd will never consciously take the place by his side as his son he sets off a string of events that could mean the destruction of all.

Monsters of Men is the last book of the Chaos Walking trilogy. It was a bit hard to read with everyone being so bent on destroying each other. It shows that it only takes a couple of power hungry individuals to break up peace talks. I found it really paralleled "real life" wars. And it is hard to negotiate peace when there is so much bitterness buried deep in a persons soul. I liked Viola and Todd's continued loyalty and love for each other. Both determined to protect the other from the destruction around them. I have to say I was very unsatisfied with the ending. I was left with wanting just a little bit more closure. For the most part though Monsters of Men was an exciting ending to the series and I'm glad I was finally able to read it.

Interrupted: Life Beyond Words by Rachel Coker

Alcyone Everly(Allie for short) is 14 years old when her life changes forever. Allie has taken care of her mother for a long time. She has had to endure her father abandoning them and the town ridiculing her mother as "crazy." Allie was willing to endure that as long as she was able to be with her mother. But when her mother dies Allie is sent away to Maine to be adopted by Miss Beatrice.

Allie's bitterness sets in. As the years go by she is determined to never let anyone close to her heart again. She especially refuses to allow Miss Beatrice to be any kind of mother to her. Miss Beatrice is a Christian. All her life her real mother has told Allie that Christians are evil. To never believe anything they say. Allie does not believe in God, why would God have allowed her mother to die? Allie believes that she needs to be strong and to never allow anyone to hurt her again.

When childhood friend/enemy Sam shows up in Maine to live with his aunt, a neighbor to Miss Beatrice and Allie, she is once again confused by her feelings for him. Determined to keep him at arms length, but yet knowing that he is the only person that has ever understood her fully, the wall of Allie's bitterness begins to crumble.

When Sam goes off to fight in WWII Allie doesn't know if she will ever see him again. As she learns to open her heart to the people around her Allie realizes that maybe her mother was wrong about Christians. Allie learns that Jesus is the only one that can bring her true peace and heal her bitter heart.

Written by 16 year old Rachel Coker, I found Interrupted to be a sweet story. Set in the late 30's to mid 40's I fell in love with the characters and setting. Allie's bitterness is easy to understand, I felt sympathy for her, along with some irritation at her behavior. Sam's love for Allie through the years was sweet. And Beatrice's love and prayers for Allie, even when being rejected, was heart-warming.

Check out the book trailer:


Thanks to Zondervan for my review copy.