Review: Bad Bones

Bad Bones (Red Eye)
Author: Graham Marks
Publication Date: May 4th 2015
Publisher: Stripes Publishing
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~
 

Some things are best left buried. Gabe is feeling the pressure. His family has money troubles, he's hardly talking to his dad, plus lowlife Benny is on his case. Needing some space to think, he heads off into the hills surrounding LA. And he suddenly stumbles across a secret that will change everything. A shallow grave. Gabe doesn't think twice about taking the gold bracelet he finds buried there. Even from the clutches of skeletal hands. But he has no idea what he's awakening...A chilling new story in the Red Eye series

I've been loving the Red Eye series so far, though my favourites have been Frozen Charlotte and Flesh and Blood, Bad Bones is still a good addition to it. I did, however, have a few issues with it, but I'll start with the good.

Waiting on Wednesday (#95)

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

Expected publication: March 1st 2016 by Farrar Straus & Giroux

War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it, with the East as his ally and the empire as his enemy. He’s finally managed to dismiss the memory of Kestrel, even if he can’t quite forget her. Kestrel turned into someone he could no longer recognize: someone who cared more for the empire than for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she cared for him. At least, that’s what he thinks.

But far north lies a work camp where Kestrel is a prisoner. Can she manage to escape before she loses herself? As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover unexpected roles in battle, terrible secrets, and a fragile hope. The world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and Kestrel and Arin are caught between. In a game like this, can anybody really win?

I am going to cry. I will cry. I will fucking cry, because 1) 2016. 2) The Winner's Crime and 3) Kestrel & Arin.

What're you waiting on?

Review: Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke
Author: Anne Blankman
Publication Date: April 21st 2015
Publisher: Headline
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

The girl known as Gretchen Whitestone has a secret: She used to be part of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle. More than a year after she made an enemy of her old family friend and fled Munich, she lives with a kindly English family, posing as an ordinary German immigrant, and is preparing to graduate from high school. Her love, Daniel Cohen, is a reporter in town. For the first time in her life, Gretchen is content.

But then, Daniel gets a telegram that sends him back to Germany, and Gretchen’s world turns upside-down. And when she receives word that Daniel is wanted for murder, she has to face the danger she thought she’d escaped-and return to her homeland.

Gretchen must do everything she can to avoid capture and recognition, even though saving Daniel will mean consorting with her former friends, the Nazi elite. And as they work to clear Daniel’s name, Gretchen and Daniel discover a deadly conspiracy stretching from the slums of Berlin to the Reichstag itself. Can they dig up the explosive truth and get out in time-or will Hitler discover them first?

The first 70% of Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke can be summed up like this. Daniel and Gretchen go here, then they go there, then they go there and then they go here. They fester on their feelings for one another, if love is enough when they both want different things for their lives, and if one wins out, the other will be unhappy. More festering. Back and forth, back and forth. Oh, then there's this little murder Daniels been accused of that set the domino's to fall. Basically, I was bored. We got the same thing over and over, the same thoughts, the same emotions. And if I read 'Daniels good hand' or 'Daniels good arm' one more time I'll scream. We know early on the outcome of what happened to Daniel in Prisoner of Night and Fog, the desperation of getting to England eclipsed seeking help for Daniels arm, and because of that, that it's damaged beyond repair.

Review: The Rise and Fall of the Gallivanters

The Rise and Fall of the Gallivanters 
Author: M. J. Beaufrand
Publication Date: May 12th 2015
Publisher: Amulet
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~ 

In Portland in 1983, girls are disappearing. Noah, a teen punk with a dark past, becomes obsessed with finding out where they've gone—and he's convinced their disappearance has something to do with the creepy German owners of a local brewery, the PfefferBrau Haus. Noah worries about the missing girls as a way of avoiding the fact that something's seriously wrong with his best friend, Evan. Could it be the same dark force that's pulling them all down?

When the PfefferBrau Haus opens its doors for a battle of the bands, Noah pulls his band, the Gallivanters, back together in order to get to the bottom of the mystery. But there's a new addition to the band: an enigmatic David Bowie look-alike named Ziggy. And secrets other than where the bodies are buried will be revealed. From Edgar-nominated author M. J. Beaufrand, this is a story that gets to the heart of grief and loss while also being hilarious, fast paced, and heartbreaking

One more add to The Strangest Books I've Read in 2015 list.

It makes a lot more sense once you read it, obviously, but still, the lead up, was so well done, and I surprisingly got rather attached to the characters,  and I say surprisingly, because...

Fantasy In Real Life #FantasyIRLTag: Part One

The UK release date for An Ember in the Ashes is June 4th and Harper Voyager came up with an amazing idea. They sent out these #FantasyIRL cards with the proofs, about issues in An Ember in the Ashes (and Fantasy in general) that coincides with what we deal with every day in real life.

I was going to post this all at once, but it would be a long post, So I'm splitting in two.

 If I want to save him, I can't let fear control me.

It's easy to let fear control your actions- it governs Laia's decisions from the outset in An Ember In the Ashes. And in reality, the pressures of modern life can be just as difficult to navigate.

We all have moments where we feel out of control of our own lives. What helps you regain control? 

I let fear control me at times, I let stupid little things control me at times because of worry and stress, I latch onto the littlest things. To regain control? I distract myself. Read. Write. Listen to music. I've never been one for a journal or diary, I started writing music in high school, and I used that as an outlet, I guess.

Waiting on Wednesday (#94)

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Expected publication: January 5th 2016 by Disney-Hyperion 

Violin prodigy Etta Spencer had big plans for her future, but a tragedy has put her once-bright career at risk. Closely tied to her musical skill, however, is a mysterious power she doesn't even know she has. When her two talents collide during a stressful performance, Etta is drawn back hundreds of years through time.

Etta wakes, confused and terrified, in 1776, in the midst a fierce sea battle. Nicholas Carter, the handsome young prize master of a privateering ship, has been hired to retrieve Etta and deliver her unharmed to the Ironwoods, a powerful family in the Colonies--the very same one that orchestrated her jump back, and one Nicholas himself has ties to. But discovering she can time travel is nothing compared to the shock of discovering the true reason the Ironwoods have ensnared her in their web.

Another traveler has stolen an object of untold value from them, and, if Etta can find it, they will return her to her own time. Out of options, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the mysterious traveler. But as they draw closer to each other and the end of their search, the true nature of the object, and the dangerous game the Ironwoods are playing, comes to light -- threatening to separate her not only from Nicholas, but her path home... forever

I'm not going to lie. I haven't even read the synopsis. But that cover. A city. In a bottle. 

What're you waiting on?