Review: Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lita Judge

Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lita Judge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A young adult biography of Frankenstein's profound young author, Mary Shelley, coinciding with the 200th anniversary of its publication, told through free verse and 300+ full-bleed illustrations.

Mary Shelley first began penning Frankenstein as part of a dare to write a ghost story, but the seeds of that story were planted long before that night. Mary, just nineteen years old at the time, had been living on her own for three years and had already lost a baby days after birth. She was deeply in love with famed poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, a mad man who both enthralled and terrified her, and her relationship with him was rife with scandal and ridicule. But rather than let it crush her, Mary fueled her grief, pain, and passion into a book that the world has still not forgotten 200 years later.

Dark, intense, and beautiful, this free-verse novel with over 300 pages of gorgeous black-and-white watercolor illustrations is a unique and unforgettable depiction of one of the greatest authors of all time.

Read more »

Review: The Perfect Candidate by Peter Stone

The Perfect Candidate by Peter Stone
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From debut author Peter Stone comes a heart-stopping, pulse-pounding political thriller that’s perfect for fans of Ally Carter and House of Cards.

When recent high school graduate Cameron Carter lands an internship with Congressman Billy Beck in Washington, DC, he thinks it is his ticket out of small town captivity. When he lacks connections and Beltway polish he makes up in smarts, and he soon finds a friend and mentor in fellow staffer Ariel Lancaster.

That is, until she winds up dead.

As rumors and accusations about her death fly around Capitol Hill, Cameron’s low profile makes him the perfect candidate for an FBI investigation that he wants no part of. Before he knows it—and with his family’s future at stake—he discovers DC’s darkest secrets as he races to expose a deadly conspiracy.

If it doesn’t get him killed first.

Read more »

Review: Twice Dead (The Necromancer's Song #1) by @CaitSeal

Twice Dead by Caitlin Seal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

About the Book:

Naya, the daughter of a sea merchant captain, nervously undertakes her first solo trading mission in the necromancer-friendly country bordering her homeland of Talmir. 

Unfortunately, she never even makes it to the meeting. 

She's struck down in the streets of Ceramor. Murdered.

But death is not the end for Naya. She awakens to realize she's become an abomination--a wraith, a ghostly creature bound by runes to the bones of her former corpse. She's been resurrected in order to become a spy for her country. 

Reluctantly, she assumes the face and persona of a servant girl named Blue. 

She never intended to become embroiled in political plots, kidnapping, and murder. 

Or to fall in love with the young man and former necromancer she is destined to betray.

Read more »

Review: Select (Select #1) by Marit Weisenberg

Select by Marit Weisenberg
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Coming from a race of highly-evolved humans, Julia Jaynes has the perfect life. The perfect family. The perfect destiny. But there’s something rotten beneath the surface—dangerous secrets her father is keeping; abilities she was never meant to have; and an elite society of people determined to keep their talents hidden and who care nothing for the rest of humanity. So when Julia accidentally disrupts the Jaynes’ delicate anonymity, she’s banished to the one place meant to make her feel inferior: public high school. 

Julia’s goal is to lay low and blend in. Then she meets him—John Ford, tennis prodigy, all-around good guy. When Julia discovers a knack for reading his mind, and also manipulating his life, school suddenly becomes a temporary escape from the cold grip of her manipulative father. But as Julia’s powers over John grow, so do her feelings. For the first time in her life, Julia begins to develop a sense of self, to question her restrictive upbringing and her family prejudices. She must decide: can a perfect love be worth more than a perfect life?

Read more »

Review: In Her Skin by Kim Savage

In Her Skin by Kim Savage
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Sixteen-year-old con artist Jo Chastain is about to take on the biggest scam of her life: impersonating a missing girl. Life on the streets of Boston these past few years hasn’t been easy, and Jo is hoping to cash in on a little safety, a little security. She finds her opportunity in the Lovecrafts, a wealthy family with ties to the unsolved disappearance of Vivienne Weir, who vanished when she was nine. 

When Jo takes on Vivi's identity and stages the girl’s miraculous return, the Lovecrafts welcome her back with open arms. They give her everything she could want: love, money, and proximity to their intoxicating and unpredictable daughter, Temple. But nothing is as it seems in the Lovecraft household—and some secrets refuse to stay buried. As hidden crimes come to the surface, and lines of deception begin to blur, Jo must choose to either hold onto an illusion of safety, or escape the danger around her before it’s too late.

Read more »

Review: After the Fire by Will Hill

After the Fire by Will Hill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The things I've seen are burned into me, like scars that refuse to fade.

Before, she lived inside the fence. 

Before, she was never allowed to leave the property, never allowed to talk to Outsiders, never allowed to speak her mind. 

Because Father John controlled everything—and Father John liked rules. 

Disobeying Father John came with terrible consequences.

But there are lies behind Father John's words. 

Outside, there are different truths.

Then came the fire.

Read more »

Review: Lost Arrow: Book I of The Kalelah Series by Marshall Ross

Lost Arrow: Book I of The Kalelah Series by Marshall Ross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Some things are best left undiscovered. 

All our ideas about humanity’s origins get twisted in this colonization story crafted will all the intrigue and layers of a nail-biting thriller. If you love Michael Crichton and Dan Brown, start this heart-pounding series.

Geologist Sarah Long makes the discovery of a lifetime. A strange ship buried in the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean. It’s impossibly big. Extremely old. And most definitely not from this planet. But neither is it alien. Or dead.

At the same time, the ship makes its own jaw-dropping discovery, and Captain Jan Argen must decide between his duty to the ship’s mission and a shocking, new reality he never expected.

Moving between characters anchored in contemporary, American life and the crew of the mysterious starship, The Kalelah Series is a fast-moving countdown toward a battle between people who have everything in common, except what they believe.

Space opera, first-contact and alien invasion fans get it all.

Joey Berlin, Executive Producer of The Critics' Choice Awards says, “Wickedly Original. Lost Arrow hits the sci-fi bullseye. I can’t wait to see the movie.” 

Other books in The Kalelah Series:

Fallen Arrow, Book II of The Kalelah Series
Jagged Arrow, Book III of The Kalelah Series

Read more »