Category Archives: YA

#Review – The Archer, Arrow’s Flight 2, by Casey Hays

23397596\

synopsis

The bridge between Kate’s primitive village and Ian’s contemporary world is long and wide. Due to a horrifying event that ends in her self-imposed banishment, Kate finds herself at the mercy of Ian and his friends–the boys of Eden with their unnatural abilities and dark secrets. Kate has no idea if life outside the Village exists, but Ian promises her she will have a future in Eden if she will trust him. With Diana by her side, she takes the first step in faith.

The journey is harsh, full of relentless rainstorms, illness, clandestine troublemakers . . . and no sign of another village. Kate begins to doubt her decision to leave everything she’s ever known behind. When Diana’s daughter, Tabitha, is struck with a sickness that forces Ian to leave them behind and go for help, Kate’s hopelessness soars. But quiet and confident Justin takes the reins in Ian’s absence, and Kate feels a subtle bend toward him. Only then do the secrets surface, leaving Kate in a miserable state of shock as her faith in Ian falters.

Meanwhile, inside the modernized walls of Eden, Ian must face horrific truths about the source of his superhuman qualities. Truths that will test whether Kate can ever trust him again.

As for Kate, will entrusting her heart to a boy from Eden place her in graver danger than ever before? Will Eden finally be enough? Or will her heart continue to ache for something greater?

 

TBR

Goodreads

kellys review

Be ready to commit because after you finish Breeder and jump into this journey you are going to NEED to ready Master! If you like YA and Dystopian books, then this series is for you. This author has already given you characters that are incredibly relatable in a primitve world that goes perfect with Breeder. Then this journey starts in The Archer and swallows you whole. Kate’s village is nothing in comparison to the technology that Ian’s city has. The further on their journey the more Kate realizes there is a huge difference. There are many, many lies and truths that unfold and has everyone questioning their reasoning and faith. The story is told from Kate’s and Ian’s point of view. I have to say that I was really getting upset with Ian and his friends but then when you get to see where Ian is coming from it made me question exactly how this was going to play out. There are so many twisting paths and huge decisions that they come across that makes even the strongest character question what’s right and wrong. This is a very emotional book. I was all over the place being happy, sad, hurt, confused….I even wanted to shake the author…a little bit, lol!

“Don’t worry. There it is again . I close my eyes, fighting back my tears. Everything I’ve ever known is slowly being swallowed up in this new life I’ve chosen. The future is more of a mystery than ever before. Dangers are everywhere from vicious storms to villains, and I am not to worry.”

“Some rules deserve to be broken, Ian. But think very carefully about which ones are worth it.”

“Death is everywhere; we can’t escape him. We can run away from the Village— run to the ends of the earth and jump off— and it will be he who waits with open arms to catch us every time. I am weary, so weary of watching him take us one by one. It is our true destiny, and there is no end in sight.”

There is a desperation with these characters that absolutely sucks you in and squeezes until the very end. And the cliffhanger…OH THE CLIFFHANGER! I meant what I said. I need to know what happens next!

 

Buy-Links

Amazon

B&N

about-the-author

6556056

Casey Hays is a long time resident of Clovis, New Mexico, The Land of Enchantment, where she continues to reside with her husband of 23 years and her two children. A former high school English teacher, she took up writing in 2008, due to her love of the young adult genre.

Her debut novel,The Cadence, a YA supernatural romance, made its appearance in November 2012. Breeder, her first Dystopian Science Fiction novel with underlying Christian elements, and the first in the Arrow’s Flight Series, released January 15, 2014, and features her 15 year-old son as the cover artist.

Her favorite authors include Sarah Dessen, Suzanne Collins, Lauren Oliver, historical fiction author Anya Seton and Christian author Francine Rivers.

 

 

#Review – Destinata, The Valguard Trilogy 1 – BONUS, 2 short stories by Nicole Daffurn

26034351

synopsis

Imagine being eighteen. You’ve just become an adult, you can do what you like when you like. You should be attending parties or studying for school. Well that’s what Charlie Dawson thought her life would be like when she turned eighteen anyway. Instead she ends up parentless, living with her best friends and working at a nearby café. That is until her curiosity about her new mysterious neighbor gets the better of her.

Following Zane into the woods that surround her home town of Tole one night, Charlie gets a little more than she bargains for when he lets her in on Tole’s best kept secrets. The human’s that reside in town aren’t alone.

Thrown into a world where humans are no longer the world’s most feared predator, Charlie is forced to become something that she has been destined to since before her own birth. Will she stand up to the test? or will she ignore what has been fated to her?

 

TBR

Goodreads

kellys review

5 stars! The story never stops! If you want something that is going to keep you on the edge of your seat, this is what you want to read. The author starts you right in the middle of a confrontation between the main characters, Charlie and Zane. Zane finally makes a choice and on a whim tells Charlie that she is the Destinata. This sets forth a series of events that she was destined to stop. She finds out she is half human, half Valguard. The Valguard are a super human type race that is using humans as experiments. Charlie finds out about her family’s past, and present, that will definitely pull at your heart strings. Her best friends are thrown into the mix of this battle as well. You will fully understand what it is to have friends as your family. She is put in the worst situations and always has to make a hard choice. She is constantly battling between what is right and what is best. You can’t help but root for Charlie and her friends in this epic battle against the Valguard.

A few of my favorite quotes:

“ The only certainty now was they could trust no one but each other and even that trust was fragile at best.”

“She may have been a coward in love, but she wasn’t a coward in war.”

“No time for regrets now, Charlie, just keep moving.”

“My life is nothing but a game to them, but they don’t realize just how well I play.”

This is an action packed, crazy filled adventure filled with friendship, love, and loss. The old saying “keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer” keeps coming to mind while I was reading this. You never know quite who you can trust. I am anxiously awaiting Book 2!

 

Buy-Links

Amazon

BONUS SHORT STORIES ON WATTPAD!!

48344967-100-k644364

The Pact

Valguard Trilogy 1.5

46152761-100-k371694

Harsh Beginnings

Eloise’s Story

about-the-author

12524367_10154093487316639_3270168775946222504_n

Visit Nicole on Facebook! Click here!

“If you can dream of it, you can achieve it”

Sunshine, surf and family are the corner stones of Nicky’s world. Being born and raised on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia gave her the opportunity to chase her dream of photography and later novel writing. She fell in love with fantasy and dystopian and crafted stories with strong men and powerful women. As well as her many contributions to chbb anthologies, her debut novel through Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly – Courageous Souls – was released November 6 2014. Her Second Novel – The Darkness Within was published February 5th 2015. When she is not busy being an author, you will find her walking along the water with her husband or chasing after her two children.

 

#WOTR #Review Soul Journey (Soul Series Book 1) by Miranda Shanklin

wotr-attendingauthor

soul journey

synopsis

It has been many lifetimes since the cycle began.

The cycle that still haunts Annisa Lawson.

A spell cast in desperation to help, which only caused heartache.

Now, Annisa has found her way out of the varying repeats of her past; only to bring more danger to herself, and those around her. Now she must learn to survive with the help of her friends: Chase, Penelope, and Landon have all gone through each life cycle with Annisa. Sometimes helping, sometimes hindering. Now that Annisa has broken the cycle of their collective punishment, she finds that she needs her friends more than ever to keep their enemies, known, and unknown, at bay. As the group of friends learn of their souls’ journeys through their many life cycles, they must also learn to control the magick they have discovered within themselves and each other, in order to defeat the most feared assassin in their world.

kristis review

Received this book for a honest review

So, Annisa is your average small town high schooler; captain of the cheerleaders, boyfriend is the hunky captain of the football team. Nothing is going to change the fact that they’ve been best friends since they were kids and boyfriend and girlfriend for years, they love each other.
Nothing until the new kids move in next door.
Chase and his little sister Penelope know no one in town and Annisa goes over to introduce herself and invite them to a end of the summer party to get to know the other kids.
Right away there is something that draws her to Chase and she feels as if she has known Penelope forever.
Her boyfriend, Landon, starts acting very possessive when Chase is around and she calls him on it. Torn she has to choose between her best friend and this crazy pull she feels around Chase, her heart and soul tell her to pick Chase.
Omg, who knew the crap was gonna hit the fan when she makes her choice!!
Witches are real, she and her family are witches. Also, Chase, Penelope, Landon, and they’re families are as well!! Witches powers are from the soul thus when they die they do not go to heaven or hell, but rather a special place just for them until their souls are reincarnated in new bodies.
There’s a good reason she had to choose and a good reason why these four witches are drawn to each other.
The four of them aren’t just ordinary witches they are the most powerful of all and the witch council is trying to kill them!!
I really enjoyed the new take on witches!! Everyone has their own take on them and this is a good one.
Reading about the group made me feel like a teenager again, I wish I had those powers to use when someone was after my man. Lol!!
I’ve told my teenage daughter about the book, I’ve yet to let her read it though due to the fact o don’t wanna give up my Kindle!!
Honestly, I really enjoyed it and the feeling of being young again that Shanklin’s writing brought.
Buy your copy now to find out the reason the council wants them dead and why Annisa had to choose, I don’t wanna give everything away!!
Can’t wait to read book 2!

soul journey teaser

Buy-Links

Amazon

TBR

Goodreads

about-the-author

image

Miranda Shanklin resides in Central Illinois with her husband and their two children. When she is not working at her day job as a paralegal, running her children to practices or supporting them at events she is writing. She has been an avid reader most of her life and has always dreamed of writing her own books someday. Now that her children are reaching their teenage years she is finding the time to sit down and chase her dream.

social-links

Website

Goodreads

 

 

 

 

 

#Review – Ultraxenopia by M.A. Phipps

28463043

synopsis

Don’t stand out. Blend in. Remain invisible. Those are the rules I lived by—the rules I thought would keep me alive.

I was wrong.

Wynter Reeves is a law-abiding citizen of the State, a willing conformist whose daily life is haunted by terrorism and oppression. With the constant threat of death hanging over her like a shadow, she forces herself to live by a strict set of rules, all in the hope of ensuring she is never noticed. However, on her twenty-first birthday, as she prepares to take the placement exam that will determine her future within society, she begins to show symptoms of a rare and debilitating illness—ultimately attracting the attention of the State. Taken into the custody of the feared research facility known as the DSD, her worst nightmare becomes reality.

Ripped away from the life she knew, Wynter is forced to become the test subject of the mysterious Dr. Richter. Through him, she learns the true and terrifying nature of her condition: a disease called Ultraxenopia.

 

TBR

Goodreads

kellys review

A fascinating dystopian read! Regardless if you are a dystopian genre buff or not, you won’t be disappointeed. I don’t normally like to compare books in my reviews but I felt like this was a cross between Hunger Games and Divergent (I love them all). The world is set up so you feel like you are right there. The background for the characters is beautifully flawed. This author gives you just enough to be sure you continue to find out more about the others. Perfect!

Wynter is about to take her placement test when something happens to her. She is having hallucinations and is taken to the DSD and is told that she has a disease, Ultraxenopia. She is told that she will be safe but ends up being tortured by Dr. Richter for “the greater good”. She keeps seeing this man in her visions. She escapes and finds this man who is part of the rebellion group PHOENIX. As if her head wasn’t spinning while with the DSD, her whole world is turned upside down. Fear, confusion, disbelief, questioning of morals, and trying to figure out what is right and what is wrong….This story will have you all over the board and trying to figure out exactly what is going on and what the next step is. Truly captivating!

“When I enter the corridor, I notice Jenner leaning up against the wall next to the door. He’s whistling a soft tune and his eyes are closed. He looks serene, beautiful even. At peace. I envy him, wishing more than anything that I could know what that feels like.”

“Sympathy— or I guess, in this instance, empathy— can alter a person’s mindset toward just about anything, regardless of the circumstances. Or, in our case, because of the circumstances.”

“From the day I was born, I’ve been told to suppress my emotions —that by doing so I would successfully integrate into a society that it’s taken me my whole life to realize is poisonous. Humans are meant to feel. We’re meant to love. We aren’t meant to shut any of that out, and what I never grasped before is that you can’t. One way or another, they’ll find their way to the surface. One way or another, they’ll find a way to break through. Holding back all of those feelings for twenty-one years leaves me unprepared for the onslaught that attacks me now. Each emotion tears through me, burning into my soul until there’s nothing left but a pile of ashes. From those ashes, what rises up is the new me.”

This is a new author for me and I’m hooked. There is a cliffhanger and I am anxiously awaiting the next installment. A must read!

 

Buy-Links

Amazon

B&N

 

about the author

M. A. Phipps was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1987. In 2009, she moved to London to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Media Communications and Journalism. It was there that she met her husband and they now live in the Southwest where she works fulltime pursuing her true passion: fiction. She enjoys writing any genre, but the majority of her work contains some sort of fantastical element. In 2013, one of her short stories was shortlisted for publication and in the following year, she submitted her first-full length novel to an online writing competition where it was rated second overall out of over two-hundred manuscripts. In 2015, she decided to self-publish her dystopian novel, Ultraxenopia, which was acquired by a publisher five months later. At it’s re-release, it became an international bestseller.

You can find her online at maphipps.com or through her various social media accounts.

www.facebook.com/authormaphipps

www.twitter.com/authormaphipps

Join her mailing list: http://eepurl.com/bwPpX9