Six Months Later by Natalie D. Richards

Title: Six Months Later

Author: Natalie D. Richards

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Release Date: October 1, 2013

Source: ARC from publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

Chloe didn't think about it much when she nodded off in study hall on that sleepy summer day. But when she wakes up, snow is on the ground and she can't remember the last six months of her life. Before, she'd been a mediocre student. Now, she's on track for valedictorian and being recruited by Ivy League schools. Before, she never had a chance with super jock Blake. Now, he's her boyfriend. Before, she and Maggie were inseparable. Now, her best friend won't speak to her.

What happened to her?

And why can't she remember?

As we all know by this point, I'm a sucker for anything contemporary, even better if there's an element of mystery or a bit of a twist thrown in. All that considered, Natalie D. Richards' Six Months Later sounded right up my alley. As it turned out, it was a story that hooked me and left me wanting to know exactly what was going on.

Chloe's always been the kind of person who put just enough effort in school to get by. It's not lie she was failing, but she also wasn't a star student. So for Chloe, falling asleep in study hall wasn't anything new. Waking up with six months of her life missing, on the other hand, that was unheard of. Now, Chloe is at the top of her class, dating Blake, the guy she's had a crush on forever, and she even has her pick of colleges. Except something doesn't feel right. She's no longer talking to Maggie, her best friend, and even though she's dating good guy Blake, Chloe feels safer around bad boy Adam. If only she could figure out what happened to her during those six months, Chloe might understand what she's supposed to do now.

Right form the start, the premise of Six Months Later caught my attention. A contemporary YA story with a twist AND a mystery? How could I possibly not want to read this book? And I" happy I did. While Six Months Later was what I hoped it would be, it was also different, and that was one of the best parts of the book. I didn't expect for things to start up so quickly: the first chapter was barely over and already, the six-month jump had happened. And from that moment on, I was completely hooked. I wanted to know what had happened in those six months just as much as Chloe did. I had my theories about it all, but for the most part, those just turned out to be completely wrong. But what truly made the story work was that its as told from Chloe's perspective. Because of that, the reader was in the same boat as Chloe: trying to piece everything together right alongside her. And I'll admit, it took me a while to clue in to what was actually happening.

I really liked Chloe. I loved how snarky she could get, but really that was just a way for her to hide how scared and confused she was about those missing six months. And I totally got that. I'm not sure I would have handled things quite as well as she did in the same circumstances. But in spite of everything, I really admired Chloe's determination and perseverance when it came to figuring out the truth about what had happened to her. And at least she had help, even if at times that help was a little reluctant, as Adam and Maggie tended to be. Even though she bugged me a little at first, I came around to Maggie pretty quickly and she really was a great friend. Adan I took a little longer to warm up to. He was supposed to be the bad boy but he gave off a better vibe than Blake. Because Blake just felt like a creep, while on the other hand Adam fell like he really cared about Chloe, even if had trouble showing it at times. But in the end, it all worked itself out.

Natalie D. Richards' Six Months Later was a fantastic story that kept me guessing the whole way through. Even now, after having finished the book, I'm still not quite sure I completely understand it all. But the story was totally worth the confusion it induced.

The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

Title: The Fiery Heart (Bloodlines #4)

Author: Richelle Mead

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: November 19, 2013

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

In The Indigo Spell, Sydney was torn between the Alchemist way of life and what her heart and gut were telling her to do. And in one breathtaking moment that Richelle Mead fans will never forget, she made a decision that shocked even her…

But the struggle isn't over for Sydney. As she navigates the aftermath of her life-changing decision, she still finds herself pulled in too many directions at once. Her sister Zoe has arrived, and while Sydney longs to grow closer to her, there's still so much she must keep secret. Working with Marcus has changed the way she views the Alchemists, and Sydney must tread a careful path as she harnesses her profound magical ability to undermine the way of life she was raised to defend. Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney struggles to keep her secret life under wraps as the threat of exposure--and re-education--looms larger than ever.

Pulses will race throughout this thrilling fourth installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series, where no secret is safe.

I love Richelle Mead. I loved her Vampire Academy series. And I absolutely love her Bloodlines series. So as you can imagine, I have been waiting for The Fiery Heart since the moment I finished The Indigo Spell. But I was kinda scared of what The Fiery Heart would do to my heart. And I was right to be scared, but I also absolutely loved the story.

Sydney Sage always thought that the hardest part of her life as an Alchemist would be living and working with vampires. But the moment she met Adrian Ivashkov, a Moroi prince, that started to chance. Now, Sydney is ready to turn her back on the Alchemist way of life. But first she has to find a way to protect her sister Zoe from being brainwashed by their father and the Alchemists. And she has to find a way to protect her relationship with Adrian. Because if anyone were to fin out, the Alchemists would send Sydney straight to re-education.

Have I mentioned that I was absolutely terrified of The Fiery Heart? As excited as I was to read the book, I was cared of what it would do to my poor heart. Long before the book was released, Richelle Mead has teased that The Fiery Heart would do for this series what Shadow Kiss did for the Vampire Academy series. And you have no idea how much that scared me. The whole time I was reading, I was also waiting for that crucial moment, the moment that would change everything and break my heart in the process. But as much as that moment hurt, I loved everything that came beforehand. I loved finally seeing the romance between Sydney and Adrian. It felt like I had waited for so long for this to happen and it just warmed my heart to read about the two of them together. What was an interesting new addition to the story this time around was the dual perspectives. The story had previously only been told from Sydney's perspective, but this time I was able to also get inside Adrian's head and I loved it. If anything, my love for Adrian only grew as a result of this.

I've always loved Sydney and I love how much she's changed and evolved since I first person. I love the person's she's become. She no longer lets the Alchemist beliefs dictate her life, choosing instead to rely on her own beliefs. And I love the person Sydney becomes when she's with Adrian. It's almost life when she's with Adrian, it's the only time Sydney gets to really be herself. And that's the side of her I really love: the Sydney who gets to let go and be who she wants to be, not who everyone expects her to be. And now here's the thing about Adrian: in the Vampire Academy books, I fully believed that Rose belonged with Dimitri, but I still loved Adrian. And now I pretty much adore Adrian. Getting into his head has only made me love him more. There's so much more to him than people tend to give him credit for. Everything he does for the people he cares about, no matter how crazy that can sometimes be, just warms my heart. If only he could believe in himself as much as Sydney does, he might be able to be a little easier on himself. But I still love Adrian either way.

Richelle Mead's The Fiery Heart was just what I had hoped it would be. This story may have broken my heart at the end, but it also made me beyond happy and warmed my heart. Though I will admit that it has left me absolutely desperate to read Silver Shadows. July 2014 can't come soon enough!

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

Title: The Madman's Daughter (The Madman's Daughter #1)

Author: Megan Shepherd

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Release Date: January 29, 2013

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London--working as a mad, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true. 

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward--both of whom she is deeply drawn to--Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius--and madness--in her own blood. 

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect. 

By the time I read Megan Shepherd's The Madman's Daughter, I had heard a lot about it, but I didn't really know all that much about what it was actually about. But that may have been a good thing, because it means I went in with a completely open mind.

Ever since the scandal involving her father, Juliet Moreau has gotten by working hard and keeping her head down. Nut she's always wondered if there was any truth to the accusations made against her father. When Juliet runs in to Montgomery, her father's young assistant, she gets the chance to travel to a mysterious island to see her father again. But when she gets there, Juliet quickly realizes that something isn't quite right. ANd how does Edward, the shipwrecked boy they picked up on their way to the island, fit into it all?

Before I started reading, I only had a vague idea what The Madman's Daughter was actually about. With this type of book, though, that may have actually been for the best. I also knew that it was based on The Island of Dr. Moreau, but, again, I only vaguely knew what that was about. All that combined allowed me to start reading The Madman's Daughter with an open mind. And as a result, I think I enjoyed this story a lot more than I would have otherwise. Because this story definitely grabbed my attention and kept me interested the whole way through. But more than that, the story also piqued my curiosity. I just wanted to find out more about everything. I wanted to know more about Juliet's father. I wanted to find out more about the island and its inhabitants. There was just so much happening in The Madman's Daughter and that just made me a happy reader. The only thing I had trouble with is the creatures that Dr. Moreau was creating on the island. I just had seem trouble picturing them as I was reading. I don't know if it had to do with the way they were described or just the concept of them, but I just couldn't picture them. Or maybe I was just over thinking it and trying too hard.

I found Juliet to be a very interesting character. She was very much ahead of her time, and, in a way, her situation is what forced her to be that way. Juliet had to learn to survive on her own and that made her stronger than most of the girls she grew up with. But there were still instances when Juliet acted exactly the way you would expect a girl her age to act. Like with Montgomery and Edward, for example. Each boy had his own appeal: Montgomery was the childhood friend and Edward was the mysterious new boy. Personally, I leaned more towards Montgomery, because something rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning as far as Edward was concerned. And as it turned out, I was right to be concerned about him, but I'll leave it at that for now. It will definitely be interesting to see how things will play out with everyone in the sequel.

Megan Shepherd's The Madman's Daughter was intriguing to say the least. It was the kind of story that kept me interested and engaged, leaving me wanting to know exactly what was going on. If you have yet to give The Madman's Daughter a try, I strongly recommend you do.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

Title: In the Shadow of Blackbirds

Author: Cat Winters

Publisher: Amulet Books

Release Date: April 2, 2013

Source: Borrowed

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze make to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and sprit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she's forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love--a boy who died in battle--returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?

Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time. 

I'll be honest, if it hadn't been a book club pick, I probably wouldn't have picked up Cat Winters' In the Shadow of Blackbirds on my own. Though that's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book, because I really did, in really unexpected ways.

Being a sixteen-year-old girl in the fall of 1918 isn't easy. Especially for Mary Shelley Black, whose father has been sent to jail for being against the war and whose best friend has enlisted to go fight overseas, all while the Spanish influenza ravages cities across the country. Now in San Diego and surrounded by mourners running to spirit photographers to help with their grief, pragmatic and logical Mary Shelley can't help but shake her head at the idea of ghosts. That is, until she learns the terrible news about Stephen. Now, the only way for Mary Shelley to find peace is to start believing in the one thing she has always been opposed to. 

In the Shadow of Blackbirds isn't a book I would have picked up on my own if I hadn't had to read it for book club. But that would have meant I would have missed out on a great book. This story wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Admittedly I didn't know much about it before I started reading so that's not really saying much. What I liked about this story was that instead of being hyper focused on World War One, as you would expect a book set in 1918 to be, it instead focused on the Spanish influenza, the other big event that year. And as weird as it might be to say this, I really enjoyed that aspect of the story. As much as I know about WWI, I don't really know much about the Spanish flu other than the fact that it killed more people than four years of war did. So in that sense, I learned a lot from In the Shadow of Blackbirds. But what really made this story unexpected was that for 95% of the story the main love interest was a ghost. That definitely made things interesting. But the setting, and everything it entailed, made it feel almost as if the story wasn't a ghost story.

I really enjoyed reading this story from Mary Shelley's point of view. She was definitely ahead of her times and it made her really interesting to read about. For a sixteen-year-old girl in 1918, being interested in logic and science isn't exactly what's expected but she never let that bring her down. What I liked about Mary Shelley most, though, is that it took a while for her to accept the fact that spirits were real and that Stephen was more or less haunting her. And I really didn't expect Stephen to be the way he was. It's not every day you're going to read a story where the main love interest is dead for 95% of it. But at the same time, Stephen was an interesting character to read about, especially when it came to how much he had been affected by the war in such a short period of time. In 1918, people didn't know everything we now do about PTSD so they didn't really know what to do with the boys coming back from the war who were completely traumatized by what they had seen. It definitely added a certain level of depth to who Stephen was and, at times, it seemed like he was two completely different people: the Stephen Mary Shelley remembers from before he went to France, and the Stephen who came home from the war. All of this to say that it made for a really interesting story to read.

Even if Cat Winters' In the Shadow of Blackbirds isn't what you would normally choose to read, I suggest you at least give it a try. I know I wouldn't have normally picked it up on my own, but by the end I found myself to be pleasantly surprised by the story.

Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

Title: Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits #3)

Author: Katie McGarry

Publisher: HarlequinTEEN

Release Date: November 26, 2013

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

From acclaimed author Katie McGarry comes an explosive new tale of a good girl with a reckless streak, a street-smart guy with nothing to lose, and a romance forged in the fast lane.

The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life--that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets form her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers…and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker--a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks--no matter how angelic she might look.

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

Anyone who knows me knows I love Katie McGarry and her books. The second I got my hands on my copy of Crash Into You, I started reading. There was just no way I was waiting any longer to read Isaiah's story. And I was not disappointed. I ADORED Crash Into You and I just can't say enough good things about this story.

Rachel knows what her role is. She is the replacement daughter, destined to always be living in her dead older sister's shadow. As such, her brothers have always worked to keep her safe, to protect their parents from any more heartbreak. But having four overbearing brothers will drive anyone to seek a thrill. And Rachel finds that thrill on dark country roads, racing strangers in her Mustang GT. And she also finds that thrill with Isaiah Walker, the boy she knows she should stay away from but can't seem to resist. Isaiah knows he shouldn't get involved with Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get involved with a girl who could never understand where he comes from. But when the two get thrown together, there's nothing they can do but find a way to save each other.

So I had no restraint whatsoever when Katie McGarry's Crash Into You showed up in my mailbox. Like none at all. I told myself I would wait until I finished my current read before starting on this one, but that plan went out the window when I tore open the envelope and found myself with the book in my hands. So yeah, I tore through this book. Every time I told myself to slow down to make the story last longer, I only read faster. There was just so much to love in this story. Katie McGarry writes these stories that are just addicting. I start reading and there's nothing else I can do, I'm just completely hooked. With Crash Into You, I wanted to find out more about Rachel's story, I wanted to see if they would finally realize just how much pressure they were putting on her. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see Rachel and Isaiah's relationship develop. Because first and foremost, that's what this story is about: these two people who really should have never crossed paths but somehow did and it's the most unlikely relationship. But it works, it just does. Because it's Rachel and it's Isaiah and they are perfect together. 

I love Isaiah Walker. There, I said it. I mean, how could I not fall in love with him? After reading Dare You To and seeing what happens to him there, my heart just broke. I knew it had to happen and that it was for the best, but I just couldn't deal with Isaiah not being happy. And then Crash Into You came along and the next thing I know I am completely in love with Isaiah. And it really didn't take long, by page 56 (I wrote it down!) I was done for. There is just so much more to Isaiah than meets the eye. If you just look on the surface, he looks like this tough foster kid who is ready for trouble. But really, that's not who Isaiah is. At this point, he's just trying to survive but can't help but take care of others, even when taking care of himself is hard enough. It's just really hard to explain Isaiah in a way that will do him justice. But the best parts of Isaiah came out when he was with Rachel. Rachel couldn't have been more of an opposite to Isaiah. She was the girl who had everything she could ever really need. But even though she had everything she could possibly need, she didn't have what she wanted: for her family to see her as who she really was. And if you want my honest opinion, they were missing out. Because I loved Rachel. I may have had some serious issues with her family, but I loved her. There was something so sweet and innocent about her that was just what was needed to balance out Isaiah. I will admit, though, that as much as I had some major problems with Rachel's family, I'm looking forward to finding more about West. (Really, though, who I really want to find out more about is Ethan, Rachel's twin bother.)

In case it wasn't glaringly obvious by now, I ADORED Katie McGarry's Crash Into You. Isaiah and Rachel's was at times both heartbreaking and heartwarming and made for one seriously addicting story. The only thing I could possibly have wanted more of is Isaiah. But, really, that's just my major crush on the guy talking. By the time you finish Crash Into You, you'll be in the same boat as me. Trust me.