Posts Tagged: ARC

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Review: Darkhouse by Karina Halle

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Darkhouse
Karina Halle
Series: Experiment in Terror, #1
Publication date: March 10th 2012
by Metal Blonde Books

 

With all the vampire, werewolf and faerie books out there, it’s easy to become numb to all things supernatural. The antidote? Darkhouse introduces two real and unforgettable characters, Perry Palomino & Dex Foray, amateur ghost hunters who are “attractive, relatable and oddly heroic,” “flawed but loveable,” “slightly crazy” and just the most endearing pair to ever tackle the paranormal…just don’t call them normal. Darkhouse is a thrilling and sexy new take on concepts like Supernatural and The X-Files, bringing a breath of fresh air to a genre that has been inundated with the dead.

*A copy was provided by Karina Halle for review purposes*
Coming highly recommended by so many friends, I couldn’t resist from checking out this creeptastic looking series any longer. All you need to convince me, really, is to tell me it has ghosts–and these are not the sweet ghosts you can fall in love with either (which I will never be fond of), these are evil: truly and relentlessly evil.

Having been reading a lot of Young Adult novels, it was a nice change to get a protagonist that’s a bit older. At 22 years old, Perry is dealing with an unfulfilling job, a non existent sex life, and her bubbly teenage sister. Then she gets a pretty unexpected surprise when she goes to explore an old light house and something… more than normal, occurs. Talk about an exciting start! Not to mention this hot guy she happens to stumble upon–Dex. These characters are a lot of fun to go through this story with. They both have mysterious pasts that lends even more creepy to this story. Dex, especially, with his more than secretive personality. I was always on edge when he was around, yet somehow, I didn’t feel threatened, just highly suspicious. He has this bizarre aura that screams something is not right with this fella. Nonetheless, the two of them have a lot of chemistry, making this book very compelling in a lot of ways.

While the characters are endearing, it takes a little bit to get the story moving along. The pacing at the beginning wanders. Like I mentioned, it starts with a bang when something hugely creepy happens, but afterwards it slows down tremendously until the half way point. I wasn’t bored per say, mostly wondering where the plot was headed. Once we do reach the half way point, however, it’s a pretty fantastic and spine chilling ride until the end. There’s more than enough menacing encounters and strange discoveries to make up for the slower half. If it was not the first in a series, though, I would have been disappointed by the lack of answers from both the characters’ lives and the plot. We don’t get very deep into the mysteries surrounding everything, but knowing there are a lot more books to follow, it simply makes me indefinitely curious for answers. Everything is so cryptic and perplexing, it’s certainly feeding our thirsts for mysteries and the unexplained.

From terrifying old ladies (I mean, she stares! Creepily! And that’s just creepy!), to adrenaline filled paranormal occurrences, this is a book any ghost fanatic should absolutely check out. The description of “Supernatural meets X-Files” says it all! 

4 Hot Espressos

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Posted by on 11/20/2012 • 38 Comments

CinderMarissa MeyerSeries: Lunar Chronicles #1Publication date: January 3rd 2012by Feiwel & Friends

 

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Review: Dear Teen Me

Posted by on 11/19/2012 • 21 Comments

Dear Teen Me:Authors Write Letters to Their Teen SelvesPublication date: October 30th 2012by Zest Books

 

Dear Teen Me includes advice from over 70 YA authors (including Lauren Oliver, Ellen Hopkins, and Nancy Holder, to name a few) to their teenage selves. The letters cover a wide range of topics, including physical abuse, body issues, bullying, friendship, love, and enough insecurities to fill an auditorium. So pick a page, and find out which of your favorite authors had a really bad first kiss? Who found true love at 18? Who wishes he’d had more fun in high school instead of studying so hard? Some authors write diary entries, some write letters, and a few graphic novelists turn their stories into visual art. And whether you hang out with the…

Gravity Blog Tour: Review + Interview

Posted by on 11/16/2012 • 19 Comments

GravityMelissa WestSeries: The Taking, #1Publication date: November 20th 2012by Entangled Teen

 

In the future, only one rule will matter:

Don’t. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed — arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father…

Review: The Becoming by Jessica Meigs

Posted by on 11/15/2012 • 19 Comments

The BecomingJessica MeigsSeries: The Becoming, #1Publication date: November 12th 2011by Permuted Press

 

The Michaluk Virus is loose.

In the heart of Atlanta, Georgia, the Michaluk Virus has escaped the CDC, and its effects are widespread and devastating. Most of the population of the southeastern United States have become homicidal cannibals. As society rapidly crumbles under the hordes of infected, three people—Ethan Bennett, a Memphis police officer; Cade Alton, his best friend and former IDF sharpshooter; and Brandt Evans, a lieutenant in the US Marines—band together against the oncoming crush of death and terror sweeping across the world.

As Cade, Brandt, and Ethan hole up in a safe house in Tupelo, others begin to join them in their bid for survival. When the infected attack and they’re forced…

Review: Undeadly by Michele Vail

Posted by on 11/13/2012 • 33 Comments

UndeadlyMichele VailSeries: The Reaper Diaries, #1Publication date: November 20th 2012by Harlequin Teen

 

The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird…

Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper-and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she’s shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath. Who seems to hate her guts.

Rath will be watching closely to be sure she completes her first assignment-reaping Rick, the boy who should have died. The boy she still wants to be…

Review: False Memory by Dan Krokos

Posted by on 11/09/2012 • 27 Comments

From the very first page this book grips you with the unknown. At first it’s who is Miranda? Without her memory, she has no idea who, or what, she is. Then we move on to who is this unconventional family of hers, then who is this creator who wants to use them, and all throughout–what are we going to find out next?

As far as unreliable narrators go, Miranda is pretty darn great. She doesn’t even know who she is! I, myself, have always loved unreliable narrators. They keep you on the lookout, always deciphering and theorizing; the more you find out about Miranda’s life, the more fascinating it all becomes. Then of course, there are twists that throw what you’ve learned a little off track. I really enjoyed this…

Review: Days of Blood and Starlight

Posted by on 11/08/2012 • 32 Comments

Days of Blood and StarlightLaini TaylorSeries: Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #2Publication date: November 6th 2012by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

 

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a new way of living – one without massacres and torn throats and bonfires of the fallen, without revenants or bastard armies or children ripped from their mothers’ arms to take their turn in the killing and dying.

Once, the lovers lay entwined in the moon’s secret temple and dreamed of a world that was a like a jewel-box without a jewel – a paradise waiting for them to find it and fill it with their happiness.

This was not that world.

*A copy was provided by Hachette Book…