Little Brother ~ Cory Doctorow

Goodreads Synopsis

Marcus aka “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, his injured best friend Darryl does not come out. The city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: “M1k3y” will take down the DHS himself.

My Review

As I have mentioned before, this book was part of my school assigned summer reading this year. I usually don’t enjoy required reading, but I loved this book. 

Everything, Everything ~ Nicola Yoon

I received an eARC of Everything, Everything via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads Synopsis

This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

My Review

There has been so much hype about this book, and let me tell you, it is worth all of the hype.

Another Day ~ David Levithan

I received an ARC of this book at BookCon 2015.

Goodreads Synopsis

The eagerly anticipated companion to David Levithan’s New York Times bestseller Every Day

In this enthralling companion to his New York Times bestseller Every Day, David Levithan (co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green) tells Rhiannon’s side of the story as she seeks to discover the truth about love and how it can change you.

Every day is the same for Rhiannon. She has accepted her life, convinced herself that she deserves her distant, temperamental boyfriend, Justin, even established guidelines by which to live: Don’t be too needy. Avoid upsetting him. Never get your hopes up.

Until the morning everything changes. Justin seems to see her, to want to be with her for the first time, and they share a perfect day—a perfect day Justin doesn’t remember the next morning. Confused, depressed, and desperate for another day as great as that one, Rhiannon starts questioning everything. Then, one day, a stranger tells her that the Justin she spent that day with, the one who made her feel like a real person . . . wasn’t Justin at all.

My Review

For those of you who have not read Every Day, A wakes up in a different body every morning and has to live the life of a different person. A had accepted their fate until one day when he met a beautiful girl, Rhiannon. That day he was in the body of Rhiannon’s moody boyfriend, Justin.

Of Neptune ~ Anna Banks

Goodreads Synopsis

Emma, who is half human and half Syrena, and her Syrena love, Galen, need time together. Alone. Away from the kingdoms of Poseidon and Triton. Emma’s grandfather, the Poseidon king, suggests the two visit a small town called Neptune.

Neptune is home to both Syrena and Half-Breeds alike. But Emma and Galen didn’t sign up to be peacemakers between the ocean-living Syrena and the land-dwelling, freshwater counterparts. They didn’t bargain for meeting a charming Half-Breed named Reed, who can barely disguise his feelings for Emma. And they especially didn’t expect to find themselves in the middle of a power struggle that threatens not only their love, but their ocean kingdoms.

In this stunning conclusion to her bestselling Syrena Legacy, Anna Banks thrills fans with more action and romance than ever.

If you have not read the first two books in this trilogy and are planning on it, do not read the rest of this review due to spoilers.

Destiny Calls ~ Phenice Arielle

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads Synopsis

*Have you ever felt like you’ve been preparing for something…Bigger?*
*Do all your friends think your dreams are just plain…Crazy?*
————————————————————
Sure, Kay’s parents didn’t think twice about sending her to therapy.
After all, Kay fully believes that she just narrowly escaped an explosion, watched a handsome stranger walk through fire for her—oh, and that she battled an extremely skilled foe to the death—all before her 10 AM class!

They’re just dreams of course, but when this talented young college student wins a coveted trip to South Africa, she must soon decide whether she’s willing to never see her friends and family again to help somehow familiar strangers BRING ABOUT PEACE.

Now, if Kay can survive the hand-to-hand combat and the one with the ivory dagger who wishes her death, Kay may just become the kind of PEACE seeking hero her classmates would never believe. Kay might even fall in love.

Of course, our brave girl may instead discover the answer to something she never wanted to know the answer TO:

What happens… when you die.
#HoldOnToLife
#Fall In Love
#And FACE YOUR FEARS
Book 1 in the Series

…Your journey begins here. (Take the journey!)

Trouble is a Friend of Mine ~ Stephanie Tromly

I received an eArc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Trouble is a Friend of Mine is expected to be released August 4, 2015.

Goodreads Synopsis

Preparing to survive a typical day of being Digbys friend wasn’t that different from preparing to survive the apocalypse.

Her first day not in school (because she cut) in her new hometown that will soon be her old hometown (because she’s getting out of Dodge as fast as she can) Zoe meets Digby. Or rather, Digby decides he’s going to meet Zoe and get her to help him find missing teenager. Zoe isn’t sure how, but Digby—the odd and brilliant and somehow…attractive?—Digby always gets what he wants, including her help on several illegal ventures. Before she knows it, Zoe has vandalized an office complex with fake snow, pretended to buy drugs alongside a handsome football player dressed like the Hulk, had a throw-down with a possible cult, and, oh yeah, saved her new hometown (which might be worth making her permanent hometown after all.)

A mystery where catching the crook isn’t the only hook, a romance where the leading man is decidedly unromantic, a story about friendship where they aren’t even sure they like each other—Trouble is a Friend of Mine is a YA debut you won’t soon forget.

My Review

Zoe is a kid stuck in the middle of a divorce. Her dad has a new trophy wife and is bribing Zoe to go live with him in exchange for tuition at a private high school. Her mom has dragged her into a new house in River Heights, across the street from a religious cult (or so everybody thinks), a HUGE step down from where they used to live. And did I mention some rich girl just got kidnapped from a sleepover in this town?

After ditching her first day of school, a peculiar young man named Digby wearing a black suit rang Zoe’s doorbell. After finally getting Digby to leave and hoping to never see him again, they got stuck in the same sessions with the truancy officer, Musgrave.

Of Triton ~ Anna Banks

Goodreads Synopsis

Emma has just learned that her mother is a long-lost Poseidon princess, and now struggles with an identity crisis: As a Half-Breed, she’s a freak in the human world and an abomination in the Syrena realm below. Syrena law states that all Half-Breeds should be put to death.

As if that’s not bad enough, her mother’s reappearance among the Syrena turns the two kingdoms—Poseidon and Triton—against one another. Which leaves Emma with a decision to make: Should she comply with Galen’s request to keep herself safe and just hope for the best? Or should she risk it all and reveal herself—and her Gift—to save a people she’s never known?

Once again, Anna Banks infuses Emma and Galen’s points of view with humor, intrigue, and waves of romance.

My Review

As I expected, I finished the book for the second time just as quickly as I finished Of Poseidon and I am still loving the Syrena Legacy trilogy.

 If you have not read the first book yet, I suggest not reading the rest of this review because it will probably spoil the end of the first book. 

Paper Towns ~ John Green

Goodreads Synopsis

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew…

My Review

I read this book before I created this blog on a road trip. I had a four hour drive and nothing to do, so naturally, I would finish an entire book. At the time, I did not know the movie was coming out, but now that the movie comes out tonight, I thought it would be an appropriate time to review my favorite book. Once I see the movie, I will write a post discussing my feelings about it. I have no doubts that it will be amazing, based on the BookCon Panel, the trailers, and everything else surrounding it.

Of Poseidon ~ Anna Banks

Goodreads Synopsis

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he’s heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma’s gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom…

Told from both Emma and Galen’s points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

My Review 

This was my second time reading this book and I absolutely loved it this time as much as I did the first time. I discovered this trilogy when I was looking through the authors who were attending BookCon, and while I did not end up meeting Anna Banks, I am so happy I came across her books,

Landline ~ Rainbow Rowell

Goodreads Synopsis

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble; it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts…

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

My Review

It was a couple days before Christmas when Georgie McCool found out that her dreams were so close to coming true. Just one week of powering through writing scripts with her best friend, Seth, and they would have the television show they had been dreaming of since college. The only problem was it would require missing her family trip to Omaha with her husband, Neal, and two daughters, Alice and Numi. With everything she has ever wanted to close, was missing a vacation really a huge sacrifice?