The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take?

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he's not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys—a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan's secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface—changing everything in its wake. @goodreads 

MY REVIEW:

5 STARS 

I LOVE THESE RAVEN BOYS!



Even though all of the boys are in the book, this one tells more of Ronan's story and I love him ♥



I still love Blue, I think she is a great character. I love her family, all of the banter between them, the sweetness between Blue and her mom - just everything! I feel bad that Blue has to go through all of these emotions with Adam and Gansey. Blue knows that she loves Gansey and that finally comes to light but in a very sad way :-( She knows she can't kiss him because she will kill him, that is her curse. But..OMG.. sweet Noah let her kiss him because he can't be killed. It was a bittersweet moment because she felt like that was the only kiss she would ever be able to give to anyone. Blue is a raven girl in my mind.


Ronan and his sweet little raven, Chainsaw... I love them both. Ronan makes out to be this really tough guy and he is in many ways, but he is human. He has a human side that does so many wonderful things for people. Brings a damn tear to my eye. He is also a Greywaren, he can bring things out of dreams. Unfortunately, he brings some nasty things out of his dreams by accident and almost gets him and a few others killed. He's not the only one, but I'm not saying who all have this ability. I thought I fell down the rabbit hole again until I finally caught on :-)



Adam is going through some tough stuff. He's not doing too well since he sacrificed himself for the leyline. It all works out in the end, thank goodness, when he gets some help from one of Blue's many family members. Adam had a sad life, growing up with a horrible father that beat him, having to working three jobs just to have the money to live on his own and go to the school with the other boys. He wouldn't take any charity from his friends and it made them sad and angry at times. But, they did find ways to help him without his knowledge... well he found out some things. But that's what friends do damn it! The reason I'm making this point is that he never asked for help until he went to Blue's home and that probably saved his life and we find out something he is now :-)

There is also a dude that calls himself "Grey Man" He is a hitman and he gets a little something going with Blue's mom. He is there to do harm to someone in the group but then he just can't. There is something really bad he did in the past and I thought it was so sad for the person when they find out.

Beyond all of the sad things that happen, there are many more good things. And the end, the epilogue, I was like what?

I wonder how many more people are going to turn out to be other things......

GOODEADS REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1585548352

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Thieves-Raven-Boys-Cycle/dp/0545424941/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1459383098&sr=8-1

Release Day Blitz/Giveaway of Summerlost by Ally Condie

It's the first real summer since the devastating accident that killed Cedar's father and younger brother, Ben. But now Cedar and what’s left of her family are returning to the town of Iron Creek for the summer. They’re just settling into their new house when a boy named Leo, dressed in costume, rides by on his bike. Intrigued, Cedar follows him to the renowned Summerlost theatre festival. Soon, she not only has a new friend in Leo and a job working concessions at the festival, she finds herself surrounded by mystery. The mystery of the tragic, too-short life of the Hollywood actress who haunts the halls of Summerlost. And the mystery of the strange gifts that keep appearing for Cedar.

Infused with emotion and rich with understanding, Summerlost is the touching middle grade debut from Ally Condie, the international bestselling author of the Matched series, that highlights the strength of family and personal resilience in the face of tragedy. @goodreads 

Praise:

A Spring 2016 Kids' Indie Next List Top 10 Pick!

Named one of Publishers Weekly’s Most Anticipated Children’s and YA Books of Spring 2016

« “Condie (Matched) strikes a deep emotional chord with this coming-of-age story.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review

« “Multiple, seemingly random details, including a family of turkey vultures that now roost outside Cedar’s window, an absurd soap opera narrative of a woman buried alive, and Leo’s quest for a trip with his father, coalesce into metaphors that help Cedar make sense of her grief and the life she now has to look forward to. Thoughtful, poetic chapter endings guide readers new to psychological depth toward meaningful connections between plot events and thematic reflections.” – BCCB

“A moving tale of friendship and loss. I loved these characters—I wish we could have been friends when I was a kid.” –Brandon Mull, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fablehaven and Five Kingdoms series

“Ally Condie’s first middle grade book might also be my favorite out of ALL her books to date. Summerlost is a story packed with nostalgia, heart, and gorgeous prose.” – The Novel Novice

“A nuanced portrait of grief deeply grounded in the middle-school mind-set.” – Booklist

“Honest, lovely, and sad.” – Kirkus Reviews

“A sweet, heartfelt story.” – School Library Journal

Letter from Ally:

Dear Readers,

I think most of us have had our hearts broken. Sometimes we can see it coming, and sometimes it comes down with the unexpected force of a sudden gale of wind or a rising of waters that we thought were still and safe. Loss is universal to human experience, but the way we each feel and recover is one of the most personal things we do.

In Summerlost, Cedar is dealing with the loss of her father and younger brother. And my intent was to show how hard their deaths are for her. But this is also a book about the healing power of friendship. Most of us have been broken-hearted; I hope that most of us have also discovered the miracle of friendships that were just what we needed. Cedar and Leo’s friendship is based on someone I met when I was twelve. Like Leo, my friend was fun and liked to enlist me in crazy adventures (although we never gave a secret guided tour of our town the way they do in Summerlost). And, like Leo, he thought I was wonderful and of worth at a time when I needed it most.

SUMMERLOST is my attempt to pay tribute both to the pain we feel and the friendships that save us. Thank you so much for supporting this book, and for your willingness to give Cedar’s story a try. I hope it makes you think of a wonderful friend of your own, whether that is someone you met in the pages of a favorite book or outside, in the world where it is often hard and beautiful to live.

Best wishes and happy reading always,

Ally Condie

 

RAFFLECOPTER GIVEWAY:

 

 a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

LINK TO BOOK ON AMAZON:

  http://www.amazon.com/Summerlost-Ally-Condie/dp/0399187197/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459206126&sr=1-1&keywords=summerlost+in+books

LINK TO BOOK ON BARNES AND NOBLE:

 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/summerlost-ally-condie/1122291979?ean=9780399187193

LINK TO BOOK AT RANDOMHOUSE:

 http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/534589/summerlost-by-ally-condie/

The Mask by Taylor Stevens

Munroe is a sensational character and Stevens is a sensational writer. Lee Child, "New York Times" bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series
For fans of Lee Child, Terry Hayes, and Laura Lippman comes a blistering thriller in which Vanessa Michael Munroe faces the fight of her life
Vanessa Michael Munroe, chameleon and information hunter, has a reputation for getting things done: dangerous and not quite legal things that have taken her undercover into some of the world s deadliest places. Still healing from a Somali hijacking gone wrong and a brutal attack that left her near death, Munroe joins her lover, Miles Bradford, in Japan where he s working as a security consultant protecting high-value technology from industrial espionage. In the domesticity of their routine she finds long sought-after peace until Bradford is arrested for murder, and the same interests who targeted him come after her, too.
Searching for answers and fighting to stay alive, Munroe will soon discover how far she ll go to save Bradford from spending the next twenty years in locked-up isolation; how many laws she ll break when the truth seems worse than his lies; and who to trust and who she must kill. Because she s a strategist and hunter with a predator s instincts, and the man she loves has just stabbed her in the back.@goodreads 

MY REVIEW:

 

4 STARS 

This is the first time I have ever read a book about "Vanessa Micheal Monroe" I totally love her and now I'm going to have to get all of Tayor Stevens books about this character! It's funny when I started reading more about her I had this picture in my mind of Lisbeth Salander, because Monroe is so damn smart! Then I saw the book mentioned Lisbeth on goodreads and I had a good laugh, I guess they thought so too!



Munroe breathed deeply, and with a soft, slow exhale the urge to flee and strike receded completely.
This was easy now, compared to how things once had been.
The years, as they faded, brought fewer triggers to yank her back into the brutality of adolescence and the equatorial rain forest and the man who'd beat her with fists, and kicks and throws until she'd grown strong enough, fast enough, to fend him off; the man who'd put a blade in her hand and used her body as his carving board until the knife became her own way to salvation.
She was seventeen when she killed him, sneaking after him in the falling dusk, with the wind of the coming storm covering the sound of pursuit. She'd shot him in the back with a tranquilizer gun and stood over him as his eyes rolled up. Had straddled him in the driving rain and slit his throat.

You should see her now taking out the bad guys left and right! I freaking love that. So anyway, she goes to Japan to spend time with her on again off again lover Bradford. He doesn't tell her he's into some stuff and he gets arrested. It's up to Munroe to get him out of the mess. Oh and not long after she gets there they have to go and get Munroe a motorcycle as it's her vehicle of choice :-)


Along the way Munroe meets up with a lot of different people but I love the fact that she helped some girls out that were being forced to do things they didn't want to do. The things Munroe did to those jerks that were doing these things are just too good for words!

I am pleasantly surprised that I found a book I wasn't sure I would like very entertaining and find another bad to the bone female character to read! 


*I would like to thank Blogging For Books for a print copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1593182224

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Mask-Taylor-Stevens/dp/0385348967/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1459188608&sr=8-1

The Prelapsarians by John Gaiserich

AFTER THE FALL…

All around us, in this sepulchral forest of grey silence, were remnants of the past – rusted firearms, shattered smartphones, parts of abandoned vehicles – all carefully entombed beneath a thin veil of volcanic ash that blanketed the land like a crust of frost on a dying flower. These were the broken bones of the old world, the lingering vestiges of the times that the few of us left who were born before the Grey Winter had once known.

Twenty-five years after the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano and the massive war that followed, the scattered, dwindling remnants of the human race are forced to eke out a primordial existence while the supply of a drug vital to their survival is controlled by a group of greedy Oligarchs. For those born before the disaster, those called the Prelapsarians, the future looks hopeless. But there are some who choose to resist.

In the south of Russia, a band of retired mercenaries, led by the formidable Andrei Evgenyevich Myshkin, seeks to undermine the Oligarchs’ power. Their ardor is invigorated when they encounter Ani, a headstrong, idealistic young smuggler with a dream of a brighter future and a penchant for getting herself into trouble. Together, their quest takes them across the Caucasus Mountains, through the ruins of once-prosperous cities, and to the shores of the Caspian Sea, faced along the way with backroom intrigue, fierce battles, and brewing tension that threatens to turn them against one another. The company faces danger from notorious terrorists, capricious rebels, opportunistic rivals, and mountain bandits, but the deadliest opponent they face may be within. @goodreads 

MY REVIEW:

3.5 STARS

This book is about what happens after Yellowstone blows.



The people in the book call this The Grey Winter, this happened about 2 1/2 decades ago and the people that are left are just trying to survive. There is a drug everyone is trying to fight to get - it's called Mamikonium (Mammy) - this drug helps keep you alive from breathing the ash.

There are several characters I liked in the book and some of them die, it's just the way it is in a world gone mad. Ciaran is the one telling the story and he is one that I like, but there are others, Syrah, John, Ani....

The group is out scouting when they find and kill some peeps and this is where they find Ani and take her with them. She is a mammy smuggler. There is no holds barred in this book. There is rape, torture, killings, what have you. It's not like any dystopian book I have read so far. It gets pretty brutal.

"Fuck me!" Ptolemy exclaimed as he brushed himself off and caught his breath.
"I'd rather not," Ani said, her thin lips rolling back to reveal a perfect smile, "but I'm flattered by your offer." Ptolemy Warren stormed off, his ego as battered as his scrawny neck.
"He's a worthless piece of shit, that boy, said Andrei. "I tried to raise him to respect his betters, but he spits in my face. I've grown weary of him. Syrah, you and Kirill take him hunting tomorrow." Syrah nodded, understanding her captain's implicit order. "Illarion, you've got a way with prose. Prepare a eulogy in the unfortunate event he should not return."
"They're going to kill him," Ani deduced, her face flushed with remorse. I nodded. "Please," she begged Andrei. "I'll be fine. Don't--"
"The world doesn't revolve around you," Andrei said bluntly.
"The boy is of no use to us,"I added.
Ani jolted back, mouth agape. "So--"
"We can't afford to support idle people," I reminded her. "Our resources aren't infinite. Every person here has a purpose, and every one of them contributes something to the community. That's how we stay alive. Those who chose to make themselves parasites, sucking from the teats of our labors but giving nothing back, have no place among us." It was a brutal truth, and not a pleasant one, and I could see deep in Ani's beautiful eyes that it was one she understood too well.

I won't even say what the boy said to Ani to start all of this.

Anyway, the group decide to take on a mission which turns out to not be the very best idea they have had as they lose pretty much all that went with them. I won't say what they were doing, who was killed, or the end game. You can pick up the book and read that for yourself.

I would recommend this book to anyone that likes their books on the brutal side, with words, actions, what have you.

*I would like to thank Smith Publicity for a print copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1592962662

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Prelapsarians-John-Gaiserich/dp/1517528631/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1459173626&sr=8-1

The Awakening of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie

Having passed her test in Book One, Sunshine’s Luiseach powers are now fully awakened: for months now, Sunshine has felt spirits everywhere: heard voices, felt emotions – intense and sometimes overwhelming. She tries to ignore them, but it is impossible. Hoping to get her powers under control – and hoping for answers to her never-ending questions – she agrees to undergo training with her Luiseach mentor, even though she still hopes to give up her powers someday.

She and her mentor clash left and right; he doesn’t understand or approve of her attachment to the humans in her life; and she can’t understand how he could give her up so many years ago, only to endanger her mother’s life as part of a test.

Sunshine’s training is every bit as terrifying and creepy as her test was, and along the way she meets and befriends another young Luiseach, forcing her to confront her feelings for Nolan. Though her mentor is reluctant to answer her many questions, she finally learns more about her lineage, as well as the rift that threatens the future of Luiseach and the human race... and the crucial part she has to play in repairing it. @goodreads 

MY REVIEW: 

4 STARS 

Sixth-period biology isn't where most people expect to see a ghost, but I'm not like most people. After making a note about the genetic similarities of rhesus monkeys to humans, I look up to see the old lady standing in the corner of our classroom who clearly doesn't belong there. She's short and at least ninety years old. Or maybe, I should say, she was at least ninety. She's wearing a pink terrycloth robe with embroidered flowers along the neckline. Her eyes are intense, small and sunken into her skull. She doesn't blink as she stares at me, and it sends shivers along my spine. Quickly I glance around the room to reassure myself I'm the only one who sees this. No on is acting like we have a sudden, oddly dressed guest lecturer, so I know she's a ghost. I'm the only one who can see her, and she needs my help.



Sunshine is a Luiseach, which means she helps spirits pass on and she can fight some of the demons that try to take them as well. She has a protector named Nolan, but he's not the fight em' kind of protector, he basically finds out things for her to try to help her along.

In this book, Sunshine meets her absentee father Aidan, but there is a very good reason he left her at birth with the wonderful mother that adopted her. <--- Read the book.

Sunshine seems to be having some trouble with ghosts and she's in danger from a woman, so her dad comes in to whisk her away. Seeing as how they are not human, he shows Sunshine's mom some of the things that have happened through his touch so she lets her go with him. He's going to train Sunshine in being able to handle more ghosts and try to keep her safe from the person that wants to harm her. They find out that Sunshine has more powers than they originally thought which I thought was cool.

There is two sightings of this creepy man in the book that reminded me of the dude in Poltergeist 2. He doesn't say anything, he just gives evil looks so I'm not sure what's up with him and maybe he will come out in another book. I think there is a third book coming out. I hope!



There are a few creepy things that go on in the book. I found the book to be interesting and I'm hoping to learn more about Sunshine and some of the other characters.

"Luiseach," I say quietly. "Luiseach." I repeat the word, louder this time. "It's an ancient species of guardians who've been around as long as humans have been living and dying. It's their job to help spirits move on after people die. And to exorcise spirits who've gone dark."

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1590051180

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

 http://www.amazon.com/The-Awakening-Sunshine-Girl-Haunting/dp/1602862745?ie=UTF8&keywords=the%20awakening%20of%20sunshine%20girl&qid=1458933174&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1