The Iron Daughter - Julie Kagawa

I was hungry. My stomach growled, and the apple felt cool and crisp in my hand. Before I knew it, I’d taken a bite. Sweet, tart juice flooded my mouth, with just a hint of bitter after taste. “He was a perfect gentleman,” I said with my mouth full, my voice sounding strange in my ears. “He helped me rescue my brother from the Iron King. I couldn't have done it without him.”

Rowan reclined and gave me a lazy smile. “Do tell.”

The Iron Daughter is book no.2 in The Iron Fey series (no.3 if you count the e-novellas). It takes off from where the last book left off, for the most part. There is an e-novella that follows the transition from book 1 to book 2 but you don’t need to have read it to follow the story. Meghan made a deal with Ash in book one so book two finds her holding up her end of the bargain. Meghan is stuck in Tir Na Nog with Mab, Ash and his brothers to witness the exchanging of the Scepter of the Seasons. All appears to be going well until some iron fey appear and cause disarray in the Winter Court. The reappearance of Ironhorse and a few more favorites tie the new adventure together nicely. The relationship between Meghan and Ash and Puck reminds me a lot of Twilight so if you loved that series I would suggest giving this one a go.

Author website: http://juliekagawa.com/wordpress/

Switched - Amanda Hocking

The guy was just looking at me, nothing more, but it freaked me out somehow. I’d put up with his stares for a week, trying to avoid confrontation, but I couldn’t take it anymore. He was the one acting inappropriately, not me. I couldn’t get in trouble for just talking to him, right?

Wendy gets strange vibes and strange feelings about the new guy at school. Finn Holmes, then he turns up at her window and her life starts to crumble. Wendy lives with her Aunt and older brother, her father is dead and her mother is in a psych ward. She’s there because she tried to murder Wendy on her 6th birthday. When two people try to kidnap Wendy and Finn saves her she is convinced to go along for the ride and finds herself in a world she never knew existed.

http://www.worldofamandahocking.com/

Fate- Amanda Hocking

“It’s tricky what you have with him.” She nodded at the door after Jack. “Why hasn’t he turned you?”

  “It’s a complicated situation.” I rubbed my arms. The girl on Olivia’s lap stirred, and she stroked her hair to quiet her. “Why haven’t you turned Hannah?”

  “I wouldn't have any reason to keep her if I did,” Olivia said, but she looked at her with some affection. “You've heard the saying ‘why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free?’ Well, if I bought the cow, I wouldn't get any milk at all.”

  She wanted Hannah for her blood, and nothing else.

  “So why do you think he should turn me?” I asked.

“He loves you,” Olivia sounded surprised when she looked up at me. “You must know that.” I shifted uneasily but didn't answer her. “And I'm betting that he’s not getting any milk either.”

Fate is book 2 in the My Blood Approves series. With Peter out of the picture, for now, Alice continues to stay with Jacks family and get to know them. Milo her brother starts spending more time with them and he starts to get jealous of the time Alice spends with Jack. Then Alice runs into trouble at a vampire nightclub and most of the book focuses around the results of that trouble, as well as her continuing to fight off her urges to be with Peter.  There’s a rocky start and a rocky ending but well worth the drama to see the stories progression. If you enjoyed the first book then there’s no point resisting the urge to read this one, just succumb, absorb and enjoy the ride.

http://www.worldofamandahocking.com/

Crave - Melissa Darnell

I edged closer to my unconscious boyfriend cuffed to a chair nearby. My judges gathered in a tight half circle a few feet away. Probably so they could see me better as I failed their test. The guard’s face looked bored, as if to say this was nothing personal. Which was a lie. This was totally personal. And all my fault. He reached inside his inner jacket pocket and took out two items… a syringe and a scalpel.

Savannah used to be friends with most of the kids in her school until the fourth grade. Then something happened, all the kids who are part of ‘the clan’ stopped talking to her overnight. Her boyfriend, her best friends, everyone, almost the entire town. Since then Savannah, living with her mum and grandmother has been off limits. The clan kids pick on her and torment her, in more ways than one. Tristan her childhood boyfriend torments her in a different way to the rest. She is always aware of his presence and finds herself drawn to him despite the fact he ignores her.

Crave follows Savannah's journey of self discovery, after being terribly sick her family lets her in on a few secrets and her life begins to get more and more complicated. Being drawn to Tristan is no longer her only problem. Tristan is now drawn to her, despite them both having to stay away  from each other. What follows is a Romeo and Juliet style courtship, just with a very different ending.

http://www.melissadarnell.com/

My Blood Approves- Amanda Hocking

“In order for this friendship to work, you’re just going to have to accept that there are certain things that I'm not gonna tell you,” Jack said firmly. “I'm not trying to be a dick about this but that’s just the way it is.”

Alice lives with her brother Milo and their shift working, non existent Mom. Alice has a generic best friend who loves to dress up, party and drag Alice along for the ride. When Alice and her friend run into trouble one night, they are rescued by loveable Jack. Jack takes a keen interest in Alice and they start hanging out. Eventually she meets his family, including his brother Peter. Along the way Alice finds out that they are all vampires and that there is some weird connection between her and Peter. Alice tries to fight it because she wants to be with Jack, an interesting story ensues.

http://www.worldofamandahocking.com/

UnEnchanted - Chandra Hahn

“You’re right. You’re old enough to know the truth, to share the burden.” Sara waited until Charlie had left the kitchen and headed for a second round of favorite objects to pack away. “Mina, I’ve lied to you about your name, about everything.”“Okay,” she said, her voice sounding shaky.“Our last name isn’t Grime. It’s Grimm. And for as long as I could remember, we’ve been trying to outrun it.”“Outrun what exactly?”“Outrun what killed your father years ago…the Grimm curse.”

Fractured fairy tales are always fun to write, and read, but this is a different take on them completely. The story focuses around Mina Grime (Grimm) a teenager who always has ‘weird’ things happen to her. When they happen her mother freaks out and they move, again. UnEnchanted focuses on Minas story, it introduces the reader to her Mom, brother, best friend and high school crush while interweaving some of them into various fairy tales without her knowledge. Turns out Mina is a Grimm and her ancestors were cursed into completing fairy tale quests. It killed Mina’s Dad and so her mother has always run from it. Mina decides she has to protect her mute baby brother from the same fate so she tries to take on the tales herself. A fascinating take on some well known Brothers Grimm tales. If you enjoy stories with faeries and big bad wolves, with a little high school angst and romance, then this is a tale for you.

http://chandahahn.com/

The Iron King - Julie Kagawa

I AWOKE TO LOW VOICES, talking in furtive tones, just beyond the curtains. I tried to love, but it felt like my body was wrapped in cotton, my head filled with gauze. I struggled to keep my eyes open. On the other side of the sheets, I saw two silhouettes.     “Don’t do anything reckless,” warned a low, gravelly voice. The nurse, I thought, wondering, in my delirium, if she would give me more of that chocolaty stuff. “Remember, your duty is to watch the girl. You must not do anything that will draw attention.”

The Iron King is book no.1 in The Iron Fey series. Meghan Chase is a normal teenage girl, at least she was, until her 16th birthday. She comes home from school to discover a changeling in the place of her baby brother and discovers her best friend is in fact Robin Goodfellow. Following a series of strange events Meghan finds herself travelling into a mythical world she thought only existed in stories. What begins as a journey to save her baby brother turns into an adventure and a fight for her freedom.

http://juliekagawa.com/wordpress/

Wake - Amanda Hocking

Even over the sea, Thea could smell the blood on her. When she breathed in, it filled her with a familiar hunger that haunted her dreams. Except now it disgusted her, leaving a horrible taste in her mouth, because she knew where it came from. “Is it done?” she asked. She stood on the rocky shore, staring over the sea, her back to her sister.

Wake focuses on easy going teenager Gemma. She lives with her father and overbearing older sister Harper. Gemma splits the majority of her time between swim training and school. The open water calls to Gemma, any free time she has is spent swimming in the sea, especially night swims when the cove is quiet and peaceful. Harper is about to head off to college with her best friend (and neighbour) Alex, whom Gemma starts to take an interest in. On the outside, life appears to be moving along for all of them as planned.

Over the summer break three strange and secretive girls turn up in town. They make Harper and Gemma’s skin crawl and Gemma seems to keep bumping into them all over town.  One night Gemma goes swimming on her own when she sees Lexi, Penn and Thea on the shore in the cove. Lexi calls her over and Gemma spends the night with them. The following morning she wakes, bruised from head to toe, on the beach. Wake is the first book of the watersong series and is all about Gemma getting to know Lexi, Penn and Thea, while also coming to terms with what they have done to her.

http://www.worldofamandahocking.com/

Awaken - Katie Kacvinsky

He studied the tree trunk. “This planet will outlive us all. People are just lucky enough to pass through. But we’re so self-absorbed - we don’t get it. People are deluded enough to think we can conquer the planet. Or that we’re powerful enough to destroy it.” Justin shook his head and stepped back. “But we’ll never have that kind of power. Humans are like every other species. We’ll come and go. We’re just passing through.”

When I first saw the cover of awaken it was sitting on a book stand, something about the jar with the flowers caught my attention. I opened it up and read the first chapter, I was hooked. There is something to be said about a book that grabs your attention from the very first words.

When Madeline was in her early years of school suddenly the world around her changed drastically. High School shootings had lead to mass shoots, which then lead to mass bombings. Trying to make a radical change, to save the lives of thousands of children, the world around her began to move their children to Digital Schools. Fast forward twelve or so years and Madeline is almost 18, and about to attend her first ever tutor class with real people. Most of her time is spent securely in her house, attending digital school, painting on her digital canvas, plugging into different social chat rooms or going on scenic runs (on the treadmill in her basement). Each year her (old skool) mum (who reads printed magazines instead of digital ones! THE HORROR!) hands down real paper books to Madeline, from years gone by, before trees were plastic and needed their leaves painted for the fall.

It’s terrifying to read something that is so close, and could in fact become our reality. Awaken follows Madeline’s journey as she makes friends, and meets people who hide in the shadows of society. People who aren't as ‘plugged in’ as most of the zombies existing in society she ‘lives’ in.  Although it comes with the traditional teen angst of first love and dealing with authoritative parents. I really enjoyed reading about the world through Madeline’s eyes as she begins to relish the sound of her name and starts to wonder and think about the things she has been taught and the things she starts to see. It really made me think about all the technology we plug kids into at such an early age. Education & technology are moving so fast, we no longer have a where to next, we are standing on the edge of a cliff waiting to see what hurdles come at us next. Highly recommend this to anyone who loves dystopian fiction. I also just realised there's a sequal so I can't wait to see where that leads.

http://katiekacvinskybooks.wordpress.com/

The Fault in our Stars - John Green

Me: “If you want me to be a teenager, don’t send me to Support Group. Buy me a fake ID so I can go to clubs, drink vodka and take pot.”Mom: “You don’t take pot, for starters.”Me: “See, that’s the kind of thing I’d know if you got me a fake ID.”

Hazel (or Hazel Grace as she is so often referred to) has cancer (a side effect of dying). It wrecked her lungs and nearly killed her but now shes on a drug that keeps it from growing. Her mother thinks she is depressed (Hazel notes that depression is not a side effect of cancer, it’s another side effect of dying, like almost everything). Hazel’s doctor agrees so she gets shipped off to support group even though she doesn't think it will do her any good.

Upon arrival at support group she sees the regulars, one being a boy named Isaac who is losing his vision. Its through Isaac that she meets Augustus (also often referred to as Augustus Waters). There begins this epic tale of what turns out to be the adventures of a life time. The story follows Hazel and Augustus with their superior wit and intellect through ups and downs, adventures and sorrow.

It’s a remarkable book and I was very pleased to see they left very little out when they made the movie. Some bits made me laugh out loud while others made me cry. Beautifully written, I really enjoyed the characters and their interactions with one another. I find it hard to believe anyone could read this and not fall in love with the Augustus Waters character and his outlook on life.

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, /But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2

http://johngreenbooks.com/