Book Review - The DUFF

The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend
Author: Kody Keplinger
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 7th September 2010
Publishers: Little Brown
No. Pages: 277
Source: Borrowed
Rating:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper may not be the prettiest girl in her high school, but she has a loyal group of friends, a biting wit, and a spot-on BS detector. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush, who calls Bianca the Duff--the designated ugly fat friend - of her crew.

But things aren't so great at home and Bianca, desperate for a distraction, ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Book Review - Unmarked

Unmarked
Author: Kami Garcia
Series: The Legion #2
Genres: Paranormal, Horror, Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 30th September 2014
Publishers: Little Brown
No. Pages: 384
Source: Review Copy - Little Brown
Rating: 
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He is here.. and he could be anyone.

Kennedy Waters lives in a world where vengeance spirits kill, ghosts keep secrets, and a demon walks among us – a demon she accidentally set free.

Now Kennedy and the other Legion members - Alara, Priest, Lukas, and Jared - have to hunt him down. As they learn more about the history of the Legion and the Illuminati, Kennedy realizes that the greatest mystery of all does not belong to any secret order, but to her own family. With the clock ticking and the life of someone she loves hanging in the balance, Kennedy has to ask the question she fears most: what is it about her past that has left her Unmarked?

Book Review - Adaptation

Adaptation

Author: Malinda Lo

Series: Adaptation #1

Genres: Science Fiction, Aliens | Young Adult

Release Date: September 18th 2012

Publishers:  Little Brown

No. Pages: 386

Source: Review Copy - Little Brown

Rating: 

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Reese can’t remember anything from the time between the accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: She’s different now.

Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.

Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed.

Things become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction—and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret. 

Book Review - Day 21

Day 21

Author: Kass Morgan

Series: The Hundred #2

Genres: Dystopian, Space | Young Adult

Release Date: September 16th 2014

Publishers: Little Brown

No. Pages: 320

Source: Review Copy - Little Brown

Rating: 

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No one has set foot on Earth in centuries -- until now. It's been 21 days since the hundred landed on Earth. They're the only humans to set foot on the planet in centuries...or so they thought. Facing an unknown enemy, Wells attempts to keep the group together. Clarke strikes out for Mount Weather, in search of other Colonists, while Bellamy is determined to rescue his sister, no matter the cost. And back on the ship, Glass faces an unthinkable choice between the love of her life and life itself.
In this pulse-pounding sequel to Kass Morgan's The 100, secrets are revealed, beliefs are challenged, and relationships are tested. And the hundred will struggle to survive the only way they can -- together.

Book Review - The 100

The 100

Author: Kass Morgan

Series: The Hundred #1

Genres: Dystopian, Space | Young Adult

Release Date: September 3rd 2013

Publishers: Little Brown

No. Pages: 323

Source: Review Copy - Little Brown

Rating: 

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In the future, humans live in city-like spaceships orbiting far above Earth's toxic atmosphere. No one knows when, or even if, the long-abandoned planet will be habitable again. But faced with dwindling resources and a growing populace, government leaders know they must reclaim their homeland... before it's too late.

Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent on a high-stakes mission to recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the teens arrive on a savagely beautiful planet they've only seen from space. Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative community. But they're haunted by their past and uncertain about the future. To survive, they must learn to trust - and even love - again.

Book Review - I Am the Mission

I Am the Mission
Author: Allen ZadoffSeries: The Unknown Assassin #2
Genres: Thriller, Mystery | Young Adult
Release Date: June 17th 2014
Publishers: Little Brown
No. Pages: 432
Source: Review Copy - Little Brown
Rating:
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He was the perfect assassin. No name. No past. No remorse. Perfect, that is, until he began to ask questions and challenge his orders. Now The Program is worried that their valuable soldier has become a liability.

And so Boy Nobody is given a new mission. A test of sorts. A chance to prove his loyalty. His objective: Take out Eugene Moore, the owner of an extremist military training camp for teenagers. It sounds like a simple task, but a previous operative couldn't do it. He lost the mission and is presumed dead. Now Boy Nobody is confident he can finish the job. Quickly.

But when things go awry, Boy Nobody finds himself lost in a mission where nothing is as it seems: not The Program, his allegiances, nor the truth.  The riveting second book in Allen Zadoff's Boy Nobody series delivers heart-pounding action and a shocking new twist that makes Boy Nobody question everything he has believed.

Book Review - I Am the Weapon

I Am the Weapon
Author: Allen Zadoff
Series: The Unknown Assassin #1
Genres: Thriller, Mystery | Young Adult
Release Date: June 11th 2013
Publishers: Little Brown
No. Pages: 352
Source: Review Copy - Little Brown
Rating:
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Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school, in a new town, under a new name, makes few friends and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his new friend's family to die -- of "natural causes." Mission accomplished, Boy Nobody disappears, and moves on to the next target.

When his own parents died of not-so-natural causes at the age of eleven, Boy Nobody found himself under the control of The Program, a shadowy government organization that uses brainwashed kids as counter-espionage operatives. But somewhere, deep inside Boy Nobody, is somebody: the boy he once was, the boy who wants normal things (like a real home, his parents back), a boy who wants out. And he just might want those things badly enough to sabotage The Program's next mission

Book Review - Sister's Red

Sister's Red
Author: Jackson Pearce
Series: Fairytales Retellings #1
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 7th June 2010
Publishers: Little Brown Books
No. Pages: 328
Source: Purchased
Rating: 
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Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris - the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts ferociously alongside her. But even as more girls' bodies pile up in the city and the Fenris seem to be gaining power, Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves. She finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an axe and Scarlett's only friend - but does loving him mean betraying her sister and all that they've worked for?

Book Review - The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

 The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Author: Holly Black

Standalone

Genres: Vampires, Paranormal | Young Adult

Release Date: September 3rd 2013 

Publishers:  Little Brown

No. Pages:  419

Source: Purchased

Rating:

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Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

Book Review - The Geography of You and Me

The Geography of You and Me
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 15th April 2014
Publishers: Little Brown
No. Pages: 352
Source: Review Copy - Little Brown
Rating: 
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Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they're rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father. Lucy and Owen's relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and - finally - a reunion in the city where they first met.

Book Review - Etiquette & Espionage

Etiquette & Espionage

Author: Gail Carriger

Series: Finishing School #1

Genres: Paranormal, Steampunk, Fantasy | Young Adult

Release Date: 5th Febuary 2013

Publishers: Little Brown Books

No. Pages: 307

Source: Purchased

Rating: 

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Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is the bane of her mother's existence. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper etiquette at tea - and god forbid anyone see her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. She enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But little do Sophronia or her mother know that this is a school where ingenious young girls learn to finish, all right--but it's a different kind of finishing. Mademoiselle Geraldine's certainly trains young ladies in the finer arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also in the other kinds of finishing: the fine arts of death, diversion, deceit, espionage, and the modern weaponries. Sophronia and her friends are going to have a rousing first year at school.

Book Review - Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures
Author: Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl
Series: Caster Chronicles #1
Genres: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 14th September 2010
Publishers: Little Brown
No. Pages: 563
Source: Gifted
Rating: 
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Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Book Review - The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

The Statistical Probability of Love of First Sight
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 14th May 2012
Publishers: Little Brown
No. Pages: 215
Source: Gifted
Rating:

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Imagine if she hadn't forgotten the book. Or if there hadn't been traffic on the expressway. Or if she hadn't fumbled the coins for the toll. What if she’d run just that little bit faster and caught the flight she was supposed to be on. Would it have been something else - the weather over the Atlantic or a fault with the plane?

Hadley isn't sure if she believes in destiny or fate but, on what is potentially the worst day of each of their lives, it’s the quirks of timing and chance events that mean Hadley meets Oliver..

If you haven't read this book because you think it's set out to be one very little over cheesy and way too cliché book, then you should seriously reconsider, as this may look and sound like one big 24 hour 'instant love' romance, but there is so much more to this little gem, and I'm glad I gave it a go myself. As far as I am aware, there are two paperback covers, one black and white, and another is the version I own. While the black and white cover screams whiny teenage emotions, the edition I have is a little more subtle and and childlike I feel, and touches such as the cartoon plane and the grass gardens really make it such a lovely cover to admire, and in truth, an even better reason to have it on your bookshelf.

Book Review - The Host

The Host
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Standalone
Genres: Science Fiction/Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 6th May 2008
Publishers: Little Brown and Company
No. Pages: 619
Source: Purchased
Rating:
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Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading 'soul' who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

Book Review - Hate List

Hate List
Author: Jennifer Brown
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 1st September 2009
Publishers: Little Brown Books
No. Pages: 405
Source: Borrowed
Rating:
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Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

I didn't really know what to think at the start of this book. I've only ever read one book where there's a high school shooting which was Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, she's one if my favourite authors so as you can tell this book had a lot to live up to in my eyes from the very beginning.