Book Review - Made For You

Made For You
Author: Melissa Marr
Standalone
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal | Young Adult
Release Date: 16th September 2014
Publishers: HarperCollins
No. Pages: 368
Source: Review Copy - HarperCollins
Rating:

When Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital, she's confused - who in her sleepy little North Carolina town could have hit her with their car? And why? But before she can consider the question, she finds that she’s awoken with a strange new skill: the ability to foresee people's deaths when they touch her.

While she is recovering from the hit-and-run, Nate, an old flame, reappears, and the two must traverse their rocky past as they figure out how to use Eva’s power to keep her friends - and themselves - alive. But while Eva and Nate grow closer, the killer grows increasingly frantic in his attempt to get to Eva.

Made For You is a book that I had been dying to read for a long time but knew next to nothing about, the one and only thing I knew about it was that it was suppose to be a pretty creepy read (that and Amanda fangirled pretty hard over it). I purposely kept away from reviews or mentions of it because I've been wanting to read the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr and I had read her Carnival of Secrets book but it was so long ago that I really cant remember much about the story of her writing style, so I really wanted everything to be a surprise. Right from the start I had a good feeling about it, it was creepy and mysterious just like I was hoping and I enjoyed the way the story was laid out. I loved that the killer had his own voice and it gave pretty much nothing away, but as the story went on little things just started to get on my nerves and that's why I sadly I only gave it a 3.5 stars.

Book Review - Dying of the Light

Dying of the Light
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #9
Genres: Fantasy | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 28th August 2014
Publishers: Harper Collins
No. Pages: 604
Source: Purchased
Rating: 
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The War of the Sanctuaries has been won, but it was not without its casualties..

Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must use any and all means to track down and stop Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred, lifeless cinder. And so he draws together a team of soldiers, monster hunters, killers, criminals.. and Valkyrie’s own murderous reflection.

The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. And not everyone gets out of here alive..

Book Review - Last Stand of Dead Men

Last Stand of Dead Men
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #8
Genres: Fantasy | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 29th August 2013
Publishers: Harper Collins
No. Pages: 604
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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War has finally come. Not a war between good and evil, or light and dark, but a war between Sanctuaries. Skulduggery and Valkyrie must team up with the rest of Dead Men if they're to have any chance of maintaining the balance of power and getting to the root of a vast conspiracy that has been years in the making.

And at the same time, another war rages within Valkyrie herself, as Darquesse is on the verge to rising - and if Valkyrie slips, even for a moment, Darquesse will burn the world and everyone in it..

Book Review - Kingdom of the Wicked

Kingdom of the Wicked
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #7
Genres: Fantasy | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 30th August 2012
Publishers: Harper Collins
No. Pages: 607
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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Magic is a disease.

Across the land, normal people are suddenly developing wild and unstable powers. Infected by a rare strain of magic, they are unwittingly endangering their own lives and the lives of the people around them. Terrified and confused, their only hope lies with the Sanctuary. Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain are needed now more than ever. And then there's the small matter of Kitana. A normal teenage girl who, along with her normal teenage friends, becomes infected. Becomes powerful. Becomes corrupted. Wielding the magic of gods, they're set to tear the city apart unless someone stands up against them.

Looks like it's going to be another one of those days..

Book Reviews - Death Bringer/The End of the World

Death Bringer
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #6
Genres: Fantasy | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 1st September 2011
Publishers: Harper Collins
No. Pages: 603
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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Think you've seen anything yet? You haven’t. Because the Death Bringer is about to rise..

The Necromancers no longer need Valkyrie to be their Death Bringer, and that’s a good thing. There’s just one catch. There’s a reason the Necromancers don’t need her any more. And that’s because they've found their Death Bringer already, the person who will dissolve the doors between life and death. And that’s a very, very bad thing..

Book Review - Into the Still Blue

Into the Still Blue

Author: Veronica Rossi

Series: Under the Never Sky #3

Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy | Young Adult

Release Date: 28th January 2014
Publishers: Harper Collins

No. Pages: 392

Source: Purchased

Rating: 

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The race to the Still Blue has reached a stalemate. Aria and Perry are determined to find this last safe haven from the Aether storms before Sable and Hess do—and they are just as determined to stay together.

Within the confines of a cave they're using as a makeshift refuge, they struggle to reconcile their people, Dwellers and Outsiders, who are united only in their hatred of their desperate situation. Meanwhile, time is running out to rescue Cinder, who was abducted by Hess and Sable for his unique abilities. Then Roar arrives in a grief-stricken fury, endangering all with his need for revenge.

Out of options, Perry and Aria assemble an unlikely team for an impossible rescue mission. Cinder isn't just the key to unlocking the Still Blue and their only hope for survival--he's also their friend. And in a dying world, the bonds between people are what matter most.

In this final book in her earth-shattering Under the Never Sky trilogy, Veronica Rossi raises the stakes to their absolute limit and brings her epic love story to an unforgettable close

Book Review - Mortal Coil

Mortal Coil
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #2
Genres: Fantasy | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 2nd September 2010
Publishers: Harper Collins
No. Pages: 572
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain are back - just in time to see their whole world get turned upside down! While they struggle to protect a known killer from an unstoppable assassin, Valkyrie is on a secret mission of her own. This quest, to prevent her dark and murderous destiny, threatens to take her to the brink of death and beyond. And then the body-snatching Remnants get loose, thousands of twisted souls who possess the living like puppets, and they begin their search for a being powerful enough to lead them.

Facing such insurmountable odds, Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Ghastly and Tanith can trust no one.
Not even each other!

Book Review - Dark Days

Dark Days
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #4
Genres: Fantasy | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 1st March 2010
Publishers: Harper Collins
No. Pages: 415
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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It's the fourth Skulduggery Pleasant adventure! Only, Skulduggery Pleasant himself is lost on the other side of a portal, with only some evil gods for company. Can he possibly survive? (Yes, all right, he's already dead. But still.)

Skulduggery Pleasant is gone, sucked into a parallel dimension overrun by the Faceless Ones. If his bones haven't already been turned to dust, chances are he's insane, driven out of his mind by the horror of the ancient gods. There is no official, Sanctuary-approved rescue mission. There is no official plan to save him. But Valkyrie's never had much time for plans. The problem is, even if she can get Skulduggery back, there might not be much left for him to return to.

There's a gang of villains bent on destroying the Sanctuary, there are some very powerful people who want Valkyrie dead, and as if all that wasn't enough it looks very likely that a sorcerer named Darquesse is going to kill the world and everyone on it. Skulduggery is gone. All our hopes rest with Valkyrie. The world's weight is on her shoulders, and its fate is in her hands.

These are dark days indeed.

Book Review - Panic

Panic

Author: Lauren Oliver 

Standalone

Genres: Contemporary, Adventure | Young Adult
Release Date: 4th March 2014
Publishers: Harper Collins

No. Pages: 408

Source: Review Copy - Harper Collins

Rating: 

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Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most

Book Review - The Faceless Ones

The Faceless Ones
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #3
Genres: Fantasy | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 6th April 2009
Publishers: Harper Collins
Pages: 395
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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If you've read the previous Skulduggery books then you know what the Faceless Ones are - and if you know what the Faceless Ones are, then you can probably take a wild guess that things in this book are going to get AWFULLY sticky for our skeletal hero and his young sidekick. If you haven't read the previous Skulduggery books then what are you doing reading this? Go and read them right now, so that you know what all that stuff in the previous paragraph was about. Done? Good. So now you’re on tenterhooks too, desperately awaiting the answers to all your questions, and instead you're going to have to wait to read the book. Sorry about that.

Book Review - Playing With Fire

Playing With Fire
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #2
Genres: Fantasy | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 28th April 2008
Publishers: Harper Collins
No. Pages: 351
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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Valkyrie Cain - once known to the world as twelve-year-old Stephanie Edgley - has learned a great deal since beginning her apprenticeship to Skulduggery Pleasant, the well-dressed, living-dead wizard-detective. But she hasn't learned nearly enough to defeat the horrors massing against her and her friends: An old foe of Skulduggery's, Baron Vengeous, is bent on bringing back to life the horrible Grotesquery - an unkillable monster assembled from the most fearsome beasts of legend.

It's up to the ingenious, fearless, and quick-witted Valkyrie and Skulduggery to stop the Grotesquery from coming fully to life. Because once the thing is alive, it will call to its masters, the evil Faceless Ones who return will mean the end of the world.

Book Review - Skulduggery Pleasant

Skulduggery Pleasant
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #1
Genres: Fantasy | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 30th September 2007
Publishers: Harper Collins
No. Pages: 368
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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Meet Skulduggery Pleasant. Sure, he may lose his head now and again (in fact, he won his current skull in a poker match), but he is much more than he appears to be - which is good, considering that he is, basically, a skeleton. Skulduggery may be long dead, but he is also a mage who dodged the grave so that he could save the world from an ancient evil. But to defeat it, he'll need the help of a new partner: a not so innocent twelve-year-old girl named Stephanie. That's right, they're the heroes.

Stephanie and Skulduggery are quickly caught up in a battle to stop evil forces from acquiring her recently deceased uncle's most prized possession -the Sceptre of the Ancients. The Ancients were the good guys, an extinct race of uber-magicians from the early days of the earth, and the scepter is their most dangerous weapon, one capable of killing anyone and destroying anything. Back in the day, they used it to banish the bad guys, the evil Faceless Ones. Unfortunately, in the way of bad guys everywhere, the Faceless Ones are staging a comeback and no one besides our two heroes believes in the Faceless Ones, or even that the Sceptre is real.

So Stephanie and Skulduggery set off to find the Sceptre, fend off the minions of the bad guys, beat down vampires and the undead, prove the existence of the Ancients and the Faceless Ones, all while trading snappy, snippy banter worthy of the best screwball comedies.

Book Review - Losing It

Losing It

Author:  Cora Carmack 

Series: Losing It #1

Genres: Contemporary, College | New Adult

Release Date:  October 15th 2012
Publishers: Harper Collins

No. Pages: 204

Source: Purchased 

Rating: 

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Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, Bliss Edwards decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible - a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if that weren't embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She'd left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.

Book Review - Ignite Me

Ignite Me
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Series: Shatter Me #3
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 4th February 2014
Publishers: Harper Collins
No. Pages: 421
Source: Borrowed
Rating:
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With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn’t know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won’t keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that’s not all he wants with her.

The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Legend by Marie Lu. Tahereh Mafi has created a captivating and original story that combines the best of dystopian and paranormal, and was praised by Publishers Weekly as “a gripping read from an author who’s not afraid to take risks.” Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and satisfying end.

Book Review - The Awakening

The Awakening

Author: Kelley Armstrong 

Series: Darkest Powers Trilogy #2

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Supernatural | Young Adult

Release Date: April 28th 2009
Publishers: Harper Collins

No. Pages: 360

Source: Borrowed

Rating:

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Chloe Saunders is on the run
and raising hell. Literally.

Chloe Saunders is not your average supernatural teenager. Genetically altered at birth by a sinister team of scientists, she can barely control her terrifying powers. Now the team that created her has decided it's time to end the experiment. Permanently.

Now Chloe is running for her life along with a charming sorcerer, a troubled werewolf and a temperamental young witch. Together they have a chance for freedom - but can Chloe trust her new friends?

Book Review - The Summoning

The Summoning

Author: Kelley Armstrong  , 

Series: Darkest Powers Trilogy #1

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal | Young Adult

Release Date: July 1st 2008
Publishers: Harper Collins

No. Pages: 390

Source: Borrowed

Rating: 

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My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost - and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? it's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House...before its skeletons come back to haunt me.

Book Review - What's Left Of Me

What's Left Of Me
Author: Kat Zhang
Series: The Hybrid Chronicles #1
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction | Young Adult
Release Date: September 27th 2012
No. Pages: 343
Source: Borrowed
Rating:
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I should not exist. But I do.

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet.. for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

I first heard about this book when Raimy of Readaraptor had given it high recommendation but even though her reviews have never stirred me wrong, I still wasn't sure. At the moment I seem to always be drawn to dystopia books over the ordinary YA fantasy but they have became what the majority of YA vampire books were after Twilight, predictable and unoriginal. I had it for a week or two and when stuck for something to read I decided to give it a go.

Book Review - Delirium / Pandemonium

 

Delirium

Author: Lauren Oliver 

Series: Delirium #1

Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction | Young Adult

Release Date: February 7th 2012
Publishers: Harper Collins

No. Pages: 441

Source: Borrowed

Rating:

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Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.

Book Review - Palace of the Damned

Palace of the Damned

Author: Darren Shan

Series: The Saga of Larten Crepsley #3

Genres: Paranormal, Vampires| Young Adult

Release Date: September 29th 2011
Publishers: Harper Collins

No. Pages: 256

Source: Borrowed

Rating: 

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In the third instalment in the creepy, captivating Larten Crepsley series, Larten finds out what it means to love… but is he also damned to find out what it means to lose?

Lost in the arctic waste, carrying a baby whose love he could never deserve, Larten faces the darkest time he has ever known. But hope has a way of shining through even the smallest of cracks, and just as Larten reaches the end, a new beginning presents itself. The trouble is, for Larten, the violence of his youth is never far from the surface… and those he loves are the ones he hurts the most. As Larten experiences heaven and hell, and tries to save the soul of a child, the question is: can he save his own?

Book Review - Ocean of Blood

Ocean of Blood

Author: Darren Shan

Series: The Saga of Larten Crepsley #2

Genres: Paranormal, Vampires | Young Adult

Release Date: April 28th 2011

Publishers: Harper Collins

No. Pages: 232

Source: Borrowed

Rating: 

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Free from their mentor Seba Nile, Larten Crepsley and Wester Flack join the Cubs – wild young vampires with little respect for human life, and a taste for mindless enjoyment

For the Cubs, everything is easy. But nothing has ever been easy for Larten, and soon fate throws his life into another spin. With dark paths to travel, Larten finds himself far from the Vampire Mountain and its rules. A long way from home, sick and alone, he must decide what kind of vampire he will be. Whether he will stand firm, be true to his master and his princples – or whether he will lose himself in blood…