Thursday, December 08, 2016

Alienated (Alienated #1) by Melissa Landers #BookReview

 
Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them. 

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class. 

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

The Broken One by Christine H. Bailey #BookReview

 
Sixteen-year-old Farris is picking up the pieces after the untimely death of her best friend. But even one year later, she can’t seem to find “normal” again—not until Lane Evans pops back into her life and pushes her to face reality. When he offers her the chance to find the truth, Farris fears what will surface. Is it too much too soon or just what she needs to move forward?

The Magickal Union of East and West: The Spiritual Path to New Aeon Tantra by Gregory H. Peters #BookReview

 
Can Eastern and Western magickal systems be merged? The magickal order, the Ordo Sunyata Vajra, successfully did so by eliminating the cultural trappings and unnecessary mystery surrounding Hindu and Buddhist Tantric magick and filtering it through the Western Thelemic tradition. This book reveals their secrets, providing exercises for integrating mind and body with the universal energy of the cosmos. It culminates with instructions for their ultimate magickal ritual, the Diamond Sapphire Gem of Radiant Light. Unlike traditional methods where years of study and practice are required before learning such advanced material, these practices are immediately accessible to students of all levels. Also used is a more universal Thelema that transcends the Crowley-centric view, resulting in a New Aeon of magickal possibility and potential for all spiritual seekers.

Wednesday, December 07, 2016

Take Back the Skies (Tellus #1) by Lucy Saxon #BookReview

 
Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.

So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . .

Watched by C.J. Lyons #BookReview

 
When hackers can hijack any cellphone or computer webcam, no one is safe - including Jesse.

Jesse seems like a normal sixteen-year-old, but he isn't. He is a victim of King - a ruthless hacker who has been blackmailing Jesse with incriminating screen photos and videos. So far, Jesse's given in to King's demands in order to protect his family. But now King wants something that's too horrible to contemplate- and if he doesn't get it, King will kill Jesse's little sister.

Terrified and helpless, the answer to Jesse's prayers arrives in the form of a plain manila envelope. Inside there's a phone number and a note: I can help.

Valentine Bell: The Golden Year by @RowanManess @netgalley #BookReview

 
In this enthralling debut, one young girl learns that getting the best revenge takes more than a little luck.

Valentine Bell spends her days aboard the luxury cruise ship “The Heart of Io,” traveling back and forth between earth and beautiful, mysterious Vala, a planet where the jungle holds a universe-altering secret. The young orphan is unaware of her powers, only knows that she has been born with a scar, and seeks greater adventures than what life has provided for her.

She finds it in the form of Orion Sides. Orion uses Valentine’s fascination to entangle her in his father’s gang of thugs and thieves, who run the ship’s underworld.

But Orion knows something Valentine doesn’t— that her scar gives her a special ability to bestow luck upon anyone who touches it. Aided by her de-facto dad, Tycho, and her best friend, Luke, Valentine realizes that Orion’s been using her luck to pull off a heist, and when a set of priceless jewels goes missing from the cabin of a powerful Ambassador, Valentine is sure she knows who’s taken them.

Out for revenge, Valentine embarks upon a dangerous journey that takes her into the Valan jungle, spurred on by a strange connection to the precious jewels. As she learns about her own tangled history, and forges a path to her future, Valentine discovers that she has a role to play in setting things right, talents beyond her imagination, and a thirst for justice that takes her down perilous paths.

Rowan Maness’s stunning first novel invites readers into a dizzying world unlike any they’ve ever seen, and introduces a character whose journey will enchant anyone who has ever questioned their place in this world or any other.

A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by @SabaaTahir @RazorbillBooks #BookReview #Excerpt

 
Elias and Laia are running for their lives. After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.

Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.

But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.

Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Stiefvater #BookReview

 
The third installment in the all-new series from the #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs. The trick with found things, though, is how easily they can be lost.
 

Insanity by Susan Vaught #BookReview

 
Never, Kentucky is not your average scenic small town. It is a crossways, a place where the dead and the living can find no peace. Not that Forest, an 18-year-old foster kid who works the graveyard shift at Lincoln Hospital, knew this when she applied for the job. Lincoln is a huge state mental institution, a good place for Forest to make some money to pay for college. But along with hundreds of very unstable patients, it also has underground tunnels, bell towers that ring unexpectedly, and a closet that holds more than just donated clothing....When the dead husband of one of Forest's patients makes an appearance late one night, seemingly accompanied by an agent of the Devil, Forest loses all sense of reality and all sense of time. Terrified, she knows she has a part to play, and when she does so, she finds a heritage that she never expected. 

With her deep knowledge of mental illness and mental institutions, Susan Vaught brings readers a fascinating and completely creepy new book intertwining the stories of three young people who find themselves haunted beyond imagining in the depths of Lincoln Hospital.

Tuesday, December 06, 2016

Perfection by J.L. Spelbring #BookReview

 
The personification of Aryan purity, Ellyssa's spent her whole life under her creator's strict training and guidance; her purpose is to eradicate inferior beings. She was genetically engineered to be the perfect soldier: strong, intelligent, unemotional, and telepathic. 
Only Ellyssa isn't perfect. 
Ellyssa feels emotions--a fact she's spent her life concealing. Until she encounters the epitome of inferiority: a dark-haired boy raised among renegades hiding since the Nazis won the war a century ago. He speaks to her telepathically, pushing thoughts into her mind, despite the impossibility of such a substandard person having psychic abilities. 
But he does. 
His unspoken words and visions of a place she's never visited make Ellyssa question her creator. Confused and afraid her secret will be discovered, Ellyssa runs away, embarking on a journey where she discovers there is more to her than perfection.

How to Hang a Witch (How to Hang a Witch #1) by @AdrianaMather #FirstPageTuesday

 
We hope you enjoyed the book trailer to this amazing book yesterday! Well were back to share the first page!  We hope that you enjoy this meme and join us tomorrow for more! 

This book has been slated as addicting and an electric debut! It will keep you on the edge of your seat! ~ Jennifer Niven bestselling author of All the Bright Places. 

When by @victoria_laurie @netgalley #BookReview @Netgalley

 
Maddie Fynn is a shy high school junior, cursed with an eerie intuitive ability: she sees a series of unique digits hovering above the foreheads of each person she encounters. Her earliest memories are marked by these numbers, but it takes her father’s premature death for Maddie and her family to realize that these mysterious digits are actually death dates, and just like birthdays, everyone has one.

Forced by her alcoholic mother to use her ability to make extra money, Maddie identifies the quickly approaching death date of one client's young son, but because her ability only allows her to see the when and not the how, she’s unable to offer any more insight. When the boy goes missing on that exact date, law enforcement turns to Maddie.

Soon, Maddie is entangled in a homicide investigation, and more young people disappear and are later found murdered. A suspect for the investigation, a target for the murderer, and attracting the attentions of a mysterious young admirer who may be connected to it all, Maddie's whole existence is about to be turned upside down. Can she right things before it's too late?