Sunday, December 23, 2018

My Ten Most Anticipated 2019 YA Releases




There are LOADS of YA releases coming out in 2019.

Here are the ten that I am most looking forward to . . . 





 A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer


 Pages: 496
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Release Date: 29th January 2019

Blurb from Goodreads:


 Fall in love, break the curse.

It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper Lacy. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.






 The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves, #1) by Roshani Chokshi


Pages: 464
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: 15th January 2019

Blurb from Goodreads:

Set in a darkly glamorous world, The Gilded Wolves is full of mystery, decadence, and dangerous but thrilling adventure.

 
Paris, 1889: The world is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. In this city, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin will need help from a band of experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian who can't yet go home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in all but blood, who might care too much.

Together, they'll have to use their wits and knowledge to hunt the artifact through the dark and glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the world, but only if they can stay alive.





On The Come Up by Angie Thomas



Pages: 304
Publisher: Walker Books Ltd
Release Date: 5th February 2019

Blurb from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.

On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s homage to hip-hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; of the struggle to become who you are and not who everyone expects you to be; and of the desperate realities of poor and working-class black families.
 





Enchantée by Gita Trelease

 

Pages: 480
Publisher: Macmillian Children's Books
Release Date: 21st February 2019

 Blurb from Goodreads: 

Paris in 1789 is a labyrinth of twisted streets, filled with beggars, thieves, revolutionaries—and magicians...

When smallpox kills her parents, Camille Durbonne must find a way to provide for her frail, naive sister while managing her volatile brother. Relying on petty magic—la magie ordinaire—Camille painstakingly transforms scraps of metal into money to buy the food and medicine they need. But when the coins won’t hold their shape and her brother disappears with the family’s savings, Camille must pursue a richer, more dangerous mark: the glittering court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

With dark magic forbidden by her mother, Camille transforms herself into the ‘Baroness de la Fontaine’ and is swept up into life at the Palace of Versailles, where aristocrats both fear and hunger for la magie. There, she gambles at cards, desperate to have enough to keep herself and her sister safe. Yet the longer she stays at court, the more difficult it becomes to reconcile her resentment of the nobles with the enchantments of Versailles. And when she returns to Paris, Camille meets a handsome young balloonist—who dares her to hope that love and liberty may both be possible.

But la magie has its costs. And when Camille loses control of her secrets, the game she's playing turns deadly. Then revolution erupts, and she must choose—love or loyalty, democracy or aristocracy, freedom or magic—before Paris burns…







Decendant of the Crane



Pages: 400
Publisher: Albert Whitman Company
Release Date: 2nd April 2018

Blurb from Goodreads: 

Tyrants cut out hearts. Rulers sacrifice their own

Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she engages the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death... because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago.

Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant and alluring investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?

In this shimmering Chinese-inspired fantasy, debut author Joan He introduces a determined and vulnerable young heroine struggling to do right in a world brimming with deception.






Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy, #1) by Emily A. Duncan


Pages: 400
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: 2nd April 2019

Blurb from Goodreads:

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.

A prince in danger must decide who to trust.

A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.

Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy..
.





Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle, #1) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff


Pages: 384
Publisher: Rock the Boat
Release Date: 30th April 2019

Blurb from Goodreads:

The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…

A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering

And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.

Nobody panic.
 








Again, But Better by Christine Riccio



Pages: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: 7th May 2019

Blurb from Goodreads:


Shane has been doing college all wrong. Pre-med, stellar grades, and happy parents...sounds ideal -- but Shane's made zero friends, goes home every weekend, and romance...what's that?

Her life has been dorm, dining hall, class, repeat. Time's a ticking, and she needs a change -- there's nothing like moving to a new country to really mix things up. Shane signs up for a semester abroad in London. She's going to right all her college mistakes: make friends, pursue boys, and find adventure!

Easier said than done. She is soon faced with the complicated realities of living outside her bubble, and when self-doubt sneaks in, her new life starts to fall apart.

Shane comes to find that, with the right amount of courage and determination one can conquer anything. Throw in some fate and a touch of magic - the possibilities are endless.

 




We Hunt The Flame by Hafsah Faizal


Pages: 480
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: 14th May 2019

Blurb from Goodreads:

 People lived because she killed.
People died because he lived.


Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.

Both are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya—but neither wants to be.

War is brewing in Arawiya, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the king on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds—and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.

Set in a world inspired by ancient Arabia.







Teen Titans: Raven by Kami Garcia



Pages: 176
Publisher: DC Ink
Release Date: 2nd July 2019

Blurb from Goodreads:

When a tragic accident takes the life of seventeen-year-old Raven Roth's foster mom--and Raven's memory--she moves to New Orleans to live with her foster mother's family and finish her senior year of high school.

Starting over isn't easy. Raven remembers how to solve math equations and make pasta, but she can't remember her favorite song or who she was before the accident. When strange things start happening--impossible things--Raven starts to think it might be better not to know who she was in her previous life.

But as she grows closer to her foster sister, Max, her new friends, and Tommy Torres, a guy who accepts her for who she is now, Raven has to decide if she's ready to face what's buried in the past...and the darkness building inside her.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of Beautiful Creatures Kami Garcia, and artist Gabriel Picolo, comes this first graphic novel in the Teen Titans series for DC Ink, Teen Titans: Raven.






What 2019 YA releases are you looking forward to?





Friday, December 21, 2018

Review - Sadie by Courtney Summers





Title: Sadie
Author: Courtney Summers
Pages: 378
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: 4th September 2018


Blurb from Goodreads:

A missing girl on a journey of revenge and a Serial-like podcast following the clues she's left behind.

Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been 
raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to 
provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After 
a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to 
bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few 
meager clues to find him.

When West McCray—a radio personality working on a segment 
about small, forgotten towns in America—overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed 
with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks 
Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find 
her before it's too late.

Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career.  
Sadie is propulsive and harrowing and will keep you riveted until 
the last page.
 

 










My Review:
 
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. 
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley*




Sadie lives in a trailer park in a small town with her younger sister, 
Mattie. Sadie has practically raised Mattie by herself all her life, 
their mother being an addict who left them to fend for themselves.
Sadie's life is turned upside down when Mattie dies. 
When the police investigation turns up no leads, Sadie decides to 
search for the killer herself.
Radio presenter West McCray hears Sadie's story while at a gas 
station. He starts a podcast, following Sadie's tracks and hoping to 
find out what happened to her.


Sadie is told partly in podcast form and partly from Sadie's point of 
view. I really liked this format. It was interesting to read as West 
McCray tried to track Sadie down, especially knowing what she had 
been doing in the places that he went to. 
I liked Sadie as a character - she was determined and would do 
anything for Mattie. I felt really sorry for her - she'd had a tough 
childhood and then her sister, her whole world, died. 
I don't think I've read a book where the main character had a stutter 
so that was different.
The plot was interesting and kept me guessing. There were some 
dark things that happened so if you are triggered by things like sexual 
abuse and paedophilia I would give this a miss.
The writing style was easy to follow and gripped me.
The book and its ending are definitely going to stay with me for a 
while.


Overall this was an enjoyable, emotional read.





Thursday, December 20, 2018

Wildest Dreams Unboxing - Best of YA 2018



Wildest Dreams is a YA subscription book box run by the lovely Zoe who blogs at No Safer Place.

Each box included a YA book, a tea, a bath product, and usually a bookmark and something extra.



This month the theme was 
Best of YA 2018.
 
 
 
Here's what was inside . . .
 
 



 
 A soap inspired by the chocolate frogs in the Harry Potter books.
This is so cool! I have to keep reminding myself not to eat this! 
This is from Pretty Suds.

The tea is inspired by The Cruel Prince by Holly Black and is a Christmas Spiced black tea from Rosie Lea Tea.





A red velvet pouch filled with chocolate coins, inspired by Everless by Sara Holland.

A necklace inspired by A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews.
This is from OhPandaEyes.





A poster and bookmark for Jinxed by Amy McCulloch.





The book this month was The Light Between Worlds by Laura Weymouth. It came with a postcard and a mini review card.
This is such a gorgeous book and it has French flaps!
I'm really looking forward to reading this.





Here's everything altogether . . .





I'm really pleased with this box.
I think it might be my favourite one so far!



What is your favourite part of this Wildest Dreams box?





 
 

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Can't-Wait Wednesday - The Candle and the Flame



Can't-Wait Wednesday is a feature hosted by Wishful Endings where people share their excitement for upcoming books.




This week I am excited for . . .




Title: The Candle and the Flame
Author: Nafiza Azad
Pages: 416
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: 14th May 2019


Blurb from Goodreads: 

Fatima lives in the city of Noor, a thriving stop along the Silk Road. There the music of myriad languages fills the air, and people of all faiths weave their lives together. However, the city bears scars of its recent past, when the chaotic tribe of Shayateen djinn slaughtered its entire population -- except for Fatima and two other humans. Now ruled by a new maharajah, Noor is protected from the Shayateen by the Ifrit, djinn of order and reason, and by their commander, Zulfikar.

But when one of the most potent of the Ifrit dies, Fatima is changed in ways she cannot fathom, ways that scare even those who love her. Oud in hand, Fatima is drawn into the intrigues of the maharajah and his sister, the affairs of Zulfikar and the djinn, and the dangers of a magical battlefield.

Nafiza Azad weaves an immersive tale of magic and the importance of names; fiercely independent women; and, perhaps most importantly, the work for harmony within a city of a thousand cultures and cadences.


  






Why I'm Excited:

Magic, djinn and independent women! 



  
 

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday - Winter 2018 TBR


Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.







This week the topic is

  Winter 2018 TBR
  

There are so many books that I need to read but these are ten of the ones I'm hoping to read this winter . . . 





 Vicious (Villains, #1) by V.E. Schwab
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns (Rise of the Empress, #1) by Julie C. Dao
Beyond a Darkened Shore by Jessica Leake
  


 
Northern Lights (His Dark Materials, #1) by Philip Pullman
Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Katherine Webber




The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons, #1) by Leigh Bardugo



 
 


  Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia
Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley





What books are on your winter/summer TBR?




Sunday, December 16, 2018

Review - Untamed (Untamed, #1) by Madeline Dyer






Title: Untamed (Untamed, #1)
Author: Madeline Dyer
Pages: 360
Publisher: Ineja Press
Release Date: 10th January 2017



Blurb from Goodreads:

As one of the last Untamed humans left in the world, Seven’s life has 
always been controlled by tight rules. Stay away from the Enhanced. 
Don’t question your leader. And, most importantly, never switch sides-
-because once you’re Enhanced there’s no going back. Even if you 
have become the perfect human being.

But after a disastrous raid on an Enhanced city, Seven soon finds 
herself in her enemy’s power. Realizing it’s only a matter of time 
before she too develops a taste for the chemical augmenters responsible 
for the erosion of humanity, Seven knows she must act quickly if she’s to 
escape and save her family from the same fate.

Yet, as one of the most powerful Seers that the Untamed and Enhanced 
have ever known, Seven quickly discovers that she alone holds the key to 
the survival of only one race. But things aren’t clear-cut anymore, and with Seven now questioning the very beliefs she was 
raised on, she knows she has an important choice to make. One that has 
two very different outcomes.

Seven must choose wisely whose side she joins, for the War of Humanity 
is underway, and Death never takes kindly to traitors.












My Review:
 
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 
Thanks to Spells & Stars Books and NetGalley*




Seven is one of the few Untamed humans left. The Enhanced use 
chemical augmenters to change their moods and looks. The augmenters 
are addictive and once you become Enhanced there's no going back.
When a raid goes wrong Seven finds herself in the grasp of the Enhanced.
She manages to escape but Seven is a powerful Seer and the Enhanced will 
fight to get her back.
Can Seven resist the urge to drink more augmenters?
Will Seven turn her back on the Untamed?


I have mixed feelings about Untamed.
Until around sixty or seventy percent of the way through I was enjoying the 
book, but then I found myself losing interest and becoming annoyed with the 
characters.
Seven was an okay protagonist. I felt sorry for her but there were times where 
I also found her frustrating. 
There weren't any characters that stood out for me. I didn't like Corin. He was 
hot and cold with Seven and there were times where he was horrible to her and 
didn't apologise.
The plot was okay. There was a twist that I spotted a mile away. I lost interest 
towards the end and I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more.
The writing style wasn't one of my favourites. I thought some of the sentences were 
worded oddly.


Overall this was an okay read.