This Is Where the World Ends-- Reviewed by Sarah Roberts

“We knew each other to our fingertips. No, that's not right. We only knew each other in our fingertips, and that was nothing at all, and for a while that was okay. We could have been a love story, a fairy tale, an indie film about high school and selective insanity featuring a boy of angel parts and a girl made of dreaming. We could have been all the best things: bracelets sliding down arms while shots slid down throats, laughter and crashing music in dark and flashing rooms, kisses that started hesitant but didn't stay that way.”  

Do you have a person in your life that you could never separated from? If they disappeared you would go completely insane? That's Janie and Micah.

Janie and Micah are always together. That's the way it's always been since elementary school, when Janie moved next door.  Janie and Micah are total opposites. Where Janie is outgoing, Micah is shy. Micah loves music, and Janie is more into art.

It's a perfect friendship- as long as it's kept a secret.

Everything is perfect. That is until Janie goes missing. Now, as Micah looks for his beloved best friend, things begin to get colored with doubt.

What was once so clear to Micah, now becomes a little blurry. The friendship that was once the realest thing in his life, becomes something to doubt.

I thought this book was wonderful! The characters were amazing. I enjoyed the mystery this book had to offer, and had my attention grabbed in many scenes throughout this book. Although, a little slow in points during the story, I still thought it was a great read. The mystery behind Jill's disappearance I found quite interesting. All in all this was a great book that I would recommend to my friends and family.

With Malice--Reviewed by Sarah Roberts

"Simone was dead, and I had no idea how it had happened."

Have you ever woken up and not remembered what you did the day before? It's slightly scary, but once you see an image you immediately remember. Well, that is not the case for Jill Charron.

Eighteen year old Jill Charron, wakes up only to find herself in a hospital bed. The worst part is, she can't remember how she got there. Jill can't even remember the past 6 weeks of her life.

Jill later discoveries that she was involved in a fatal car accident, which explains the cast on her leg and the stitches. The car accident occurred during the school trip to Italy. Jill was jetted home by her rich father, so that she could receive the proper care. Only problem this care involved a lawyer...and a press team?

Maybe this accident...wasn't an accident.

Jill tries to figure out not only what happened, but what she did. She works to figure out what happened in the six weeks that she can't seem to remember, before she loses what's left of her perfect life.

I thought this book was amazing! I adored the storyline. This was YA, but at the same point seemed to have adult aspects to it. I loved how we saw Jill struggle to recover her memory, and that it seemed real and not fictional. I also enjoyed how there were interruptions in chapters that showed us police reports and interviews with people. This book had a kind of detective feel to it that just made this book so much fun to read. It felt like I was interacting with the characters myself, and I enjoyed that a lot. I would recommend this book to all my friends and family.

I would like to thank NetGalley for allowing me to review this book as well as a the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group for allowing me to read and review this book as well.

Truthwitch--Reviewed by Sarah Roberts

“I hate this. Both the storm and the plan. Why does it have to be ‘we’? Why not just me?"
“Because ‘just me’ isn’t who we are,” Iseult hollered back. “I’ll always follow you, Safi, and you’ll always follow me. Threadsisters to the end.”  

Friends are the people you can always count on. Possibly even risk your own life for. This is the type of bond that Safiya and Iseult and have. They would do anything for each other, be anything for each other, and even die for each other.

In the Witchlands there are many people that each use their own type of magic which may or may not lead them on the path of trouble. Two women know this all too well. Their names...Safiya and Iseult.

Safiya is a Truthwitch, meaning that she is able to know the difference between a truth and a lie. This magical ability is one that almost anyone would kill to have fighting on their side, especially the noble people that Safiya live with. Safiya must keep her abilities a secret, or else she is in danger of being used as pawn in a war between powerful empires.

Iseult is a Threadwitch, meaning that she has the ability to see the invisible ties that tie the entangled lives around her. However, Iseult cannot see the bonds that touch her very own heart. Iseult's friendship with Safiya has taken her from a outcasts to an amazing adventure.

Together these two friends work to free themselves from their own confinement in order to be able to finally live their own lives.

I thought this book was really good! It was exciting and the relationship between Safiya and Iseult was heart warming. You could really feel the strong bond between these two. I also really liked how the author wrote this book, I was really grabbed by every word. The adventure in this book is absolutely amazing and really gives you chills. Though it was a little in some places it still gave me chills.

These Broken Stars--Reviewed by: Sarah Roberts

“For a moment the image before us is frozen: our world, our lives, reduced to a handful broken stars half lost in uncharted space. Then it's gone, the view swallowed by the hyperspace winds streaming past, blue-green auroras wiping the after-images away.

Until all that's left is us” 

In the blink of an eye life can change. You can go from being surrounded by your comfortable, bright life style to being in a place that's new, uncertain. Well that's exactly what happened to Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen.

Lilac LaRoux is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Carver comes from nothing, but is a young war hero who knows that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they are worth. So what happens when the two are thrown together after their beloved spaceship, the Icarus, crashes on to an unknown planet? Well, they are forced to work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Along the way there will be arguments, sarcastic comedy, heart melting moments, and even love.

I loved this book! I couldn't put it down for more than a second before I had to pick it up again. That is why I gave this book a 5 star rating. I enjoyed the suspense, sic-fi setting, and romance!. The sarcastic comments from Tarver made this story more comical, which I adored. The growing relationship between Lilac and Tarver will truly make you melt. I thought that these two characters truly complemented each other, and made this book worth reading. Some scenes in this book will leave you breathless! I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and will definitely recommend this to my friends and family.

Don't Turn Around reviewed by: Portia Rockers

                                        

Nao is sixteen and is a victim of the system. She is always changing foster parents growing up, along the way she becomes great with computer hacking. To get out of the system she creates a fake foster family, and makes a lot of money under her fake foster fathers name. She is now living in an apartment off the grid. Because no one knows about her and pays attentions she is targeted by a group that performs illegal medical experiments on human subject. She wakes up with a huge scar on her chest and no memory of how she got there. Can she escape? And what happened to her apartment and money? Peter is a rich kid that is not really interested in anything but his website he created for his group of hacktivists. But when his house gets broken into by armed men he gets scared but interested, can Peter and Nao helpeach other? 

Don't turn around is written in dual perspective, which I happened to find interesting. I gave this book four stars because in the book Nao is suppose to be sixteen but her personality was like she was in her mid 20s. I found the plot really interesting, it was full of action and leaves you wanting more. One thing I did not like about the book was that it seemed like the author wanted to force romance between the two main characters, when it was clear they did not trust each other. The ending of the book isn't really satisfying, nothing gets resolved but it's not a cliffhanger. It is part of a trilogy so I will want to read the next books to see what happens. I would suggest this book to anyone who likes adventure and thrilling books.

The Fifth Wave reviewed by Paige Espinosa

   
     This is Cassie's story of survival and her efforts to rescue her brother- the only remaining member of her family. When the aliens came, they attacked in waves. After the first wave, electricity no longer worked. They second flooded the world. The third sickened most of the surviving human race. After the fourth, there is only silence. Cassie believes that to stay alive she must stay alone. Her trust in other humans has waned until the only person she wants to be around is her little brother who was taken from her. That is, until she finds herself in need of help and she must tolerate the presence of another human being in her otherwise solitary world.
     I gave this book four out of five stars because it was one of the most original books I have read in a long time. There were plot twists that actually shocked me and the characters even had histories that brought tears to my eyes. I read this book in one sitting and was totally enthralled the whole time but it lost a star because it got a bit unrealistic towards the end. I was also disappointed by the unoriginal boy-meets-girl-at-the-end-of-the-world story line. In that respect, it was a bit like Stephanie Meyer's The Host. Girl-with-a-little-brother-meets-attractive-and-protective-guy-while-aliens-take-over-earth really isn't all that original anymore. I definitely preferred Yancey's version over Meyer's and found Yancey's a whole lot more believable. These aliens aren't peaceful invaders, they want to kill us. Aliens seem pretty corny sometimes but this book definitely pulled off the alien invader story extremely well. (This book is also being made into a movie soon! Hopefully they won't ruin it...)

Bunker 10-- Reviewed by Alexandra Lopez

Author: J.A. Henderson
Review: Alexandra Lopez

At eight o'clock in the evening, 24 December 2007, Pinewood Military Installation exploded. The blast ripped apart acres of forest and devastated the remote highland valley where the base was located. No official cause was given for the incident. Inside Pinewood were 185 male and female personnel a mixture of scientists and soldiers. There were also seven teenagers. This is the story of their last day . . .

I enjoyed it, but felt it was a cliche, to predictable. I didn't get to know the main charcter, Jimmy Hecks on a personal level/ the book was very plot driven. I'm not one for full blown science, but I would appreciate a bit of actual science to occur, some of the science mentioned seemed made up. However I didn't look it up, so either it was pointless or I just don't care in general. Overall enjoyed the story, but did not really think it was one of my best reads.

Zan-Gah -- reviewed by Alexandra Lopez

Zan-Gah

Author: Allan Richard Shickman

Reveiwed:Alexandra Lopez

Rated: ***

   Zan-Gah a young boy between boyhood and manhood. He proves himself over time that he has come of age to his people, however he never truly feels like a man. He blames himself for losing his twin, his other half, Dael. He takes a stand and ventures into the prehistoric wild he calls home, to find him, risking his life and maybe the saftey of his people to find his brother.

  The intro of Zan-Gah caught my attention. It jumped right into the story, and was very enjoyable for awhile. The story was good, but not as great as it should have been. I would say this book is more appropriate for children. The flaws would be the pacing, and character depth. Other than that Zan-Gah was one wild ride.

 The pacing was fine in the beginning gave just enough detail to understand where the book was headed. Maybe that's why I loved it, it just dived right into action.  However as the story continued it wasn't as good. The story felt cramped, it took three years for him to find his sibling, some scenes were either muddled or were not detailed enough.

  Another problem was that even though we knew of Zan-Gah, we didn't really know him. Yes he was a hero to his people, but what did he enjoy? Considering the time, which is the Stone Age it wasn't a bad problem. Survival was more important, Zan-Gah mentioned that quite often. However we would have liked a bit more about Zan-Gah other than his bravery.

  Overall I have mixed feelings about this. It had an entertaining story, and great action, without the gory detail. Still I rated 3 out 5 stars. I believe the author was writing for a different audience. Other than that it was enjoyable. If you have the time it's a good book to read.

Divergent--reviewed by Nallely S.

Divergent: Veronica Roth

* * * * * Stars

"ONE CHOICE CAN TRANSFORM YOU."- Divergent

Living without making your own decisions.....will drive you crazy.
Beatrice Prior has been in Abnegation(the selfless), a faction, all her life. Until she makes a choice that ruins her family forever. Leaving Abnegation for the Dauntless(the brave) Beatrice renames herself Tris. Being the only Abnegation to transfer into Dauntless, Tris' life is living hell. Her only friends Christina, Will, Al, and Four. Tris must pass the initiation or become a Factionless. Tris must fight her friends and her enemies if she wants to be with the Dauntless. Tris knows she can't tell anyone her secret...because it may be her death.


Alone, in a world where even your friends might become your enemies...Tris must fight for her place in Dauntless...she must fight for her family...for her growing affection to a certain infuriating boy. Will Tris make it into Dauntless? Will she find others like her? Will Tris find answers to her mother's demands? Read Divergent. X) I promise you'll love it~!



I gave Divergent 5 stars because....it's amazing~! The cover itself is enough to fall in love with~! The way Roth portrayed the need to be free..the need to fight for what you want...was beautiful and sad. It's similar yet different to other futuristic books I've read. The way Tris and her love life folded out was written perfect. Although I sometimes wanted to kill Tris....she is an example of someone fighting for what she wants yet fighting for what is right and wrong at the same time. This book is very well written and I hope I still like the characters in the sequel to come. X)