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Another Throwback Review - this time from back in 2012! Enjoy! Green Heart is the combination of two YA novels Green Angel and Green Witch by Alice Hoffman. The day it happened, fifteen-year-old Green was angry and refused to speak to her family as they left. She had wanted to go with them to the city, but they needed her to stay home. Her father, mother, and sister all died in the terrible disaster – leaving Green all alone, and plagued by the memory of her last moments with them. She struggles to survive in a world turned topsy-turvy, a place where nothing wants to grow among the ashes. Green becomes one with the thorny, lifeless realm of her garden – but finds she must allow herself to open back up to life, to possibility… to magic. Even though all she can see is pain. Green Heart was a majestic read! I read The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman years ago and was dumbfounded by it – so I had high expectations, and, my, were they reached! The haunting, mo...

Due to time restraints, instead of a new review I am doing a throwback! This review was originally posted back in April 2011 - and is definitely a great read! Here goes: The Forest of Hands and Teeth is a YA post-apocalyptic, literary zombie novel by Carrie Ryan. I know what you're thinking - "literary" zombie novel? Yep, never read anything like it! Well, that's not exactly true. The whole reason I became obsessed with reading The Forest of Hands and Teeth (beyond the amazing title) is the short story Carrie Ryan wrote in Kiss Me Deadly , a compilation of a bunch of stunning stories written by some of today's best YA paranormal authors. It was called Hare Moon and it took place in the same world, the same village as The Forest of Hands and Teeth - and it was flat out spectacular. So I knew that I absolutely had to read The Forest of Hands and Teeth . So, lets get to the synopsis, shall we? Mary lives in a village surrounded by a fence. The fence k...

Uglies is a YA dystopian novel by Scott Westerfeld. Still an ugly, Tally is looking forward to her upcoming sixteenth birthday. That is the day she will have her operation to become a pretty, as everyone does at sixteen, and move to New Pretty Town - the place all the newly gorgeous young people in society spend their time having fun all the time. Her best friend Peris has already turned pretty – and the loneliness Tally feels as she waits for her day to join him is hollowing out a hole in her heart. She worries he forgets about her as he adapts to his new, pretty life. When she meets Shay, Tally is shocked to learn that Shay is not as excited to turn pretty. She says odd things, such as not liking the idea of looking like everyone else – not liking that they are unable to consider their current faces pretty. So, Shay running away right before her own operation stuns Tally – but not as much as it might have. Yet, when heretofore unknown authorities in their society approach ...

Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions is a YA anthology of stories by numerous best-selling authors and edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong. Pulling together short stories together regarding journeys – whether physical or not – these authors provide plots featuring vampires, faeries, angels and more. Authors include such bigwigs as Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Carrie Ryan and more. One of the main reasons I wanted to read Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions was for the short story by Kelley Armstrong. I’m a huge fan of her Darkest Powers trilogy and Facing Facts was a great little reunion with my favorite characters of hers – Chloe and Derek! Facing Facts did not disappoint! Generally, however, Enthralled was a mixed bag. Giovanni’s Farewell was a good, sweet story by Claudia Gray. Let’s Get This Undead Show on the Road by Sarah Rees Brennan and At the Late Night, Double Feature Picture Show by Jessica Verday were interesting diversions, both cre...

Across a Star-Swept Sea is a YA sci-fi, dystopian retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel by Diana Peterfreund. Though this story stands on its own, it brings back characters from Peterfreund’s wonderful For Darkness Shows the Stars – so I personally would recommend reading that first. You can read my review of For Darkness Shows the Stars here – but there will be no spoilers for it in this review, no worries! New Pacifica’s two separate islands are all remaining of the world after centuries of war and destruction. Even the prior horror of the Reduction – a brain disorder that caused many of the wars and left much of the population without fully-functioning minds – is a thing of the past. After all, there is now a cure. Yet on the island of Galatea, there has been a revolution – a revolution against the aristocracy that has morphed into the ultimate revenge. A drug has been created to cause Reduction – and the revolutionaries are forcing anyone who disagrees with them to take i...

Shades of Grey is a dystopian satire novel by Jasper Fforde. In a world where color perception determines the hierarchy of a Colortocracy society, what you can see is everything. That’s why Eddie Russet is trying to secure a marriage into the powerful Oxblood family to combine his better-than-average Red perception to their aristocratic name – yet those plans are upended when he and his father are sent to the fringe town East Carmine. Manners, rules and accepted mores in the Chromatacia seem a bit more lax in East Carmine – dangerously so. Beyond the normal fear of lethal swans and lightening, the sneaky Yellows seem sneakier than ever, the deMauve’s are angling to marry their horrid Violet to Eddie and he’s finding himself fascinated by a Grey named Jane. Riskiest of all is the knowledge Eddie begins to gather in East Carmine – truths behind the ordered, peaceful, rule-abiding Colortocracy that shed light on its deceptions… And it’s that innate inquisitiveness that could le...

Cinder is a YA futuristic sci-fi fantasy retelling of Cinderella, and the first book in The Lunar Chronicles , by Marissa Meyer. Being a cyborg is almost as shameful as being an android – despite the fact that Cinder knows she is human, there are many in New Beijing who would argue that fact. So, as she spends her days utilizing her gifts as a mechanic to provide income for her derisive adoptive mother and sisters, Cinder doesn’t advertise her cyborg parts. Not good for business. Yet, she’s never felt the weight of being a cyborg as strongly as when her path crosses with Prince Kai – an admittedly attractive and charming young man. Not to mention royal. Soon, Cinder is pulled deeper into the most concerning struggles of Earth – a ravaging, deadly plague that they’ve been trying to find a cure for without success in twenty-five years and a possibility of war hinging on nothing more than the whims of a mad queen from the country Lunar, on the moon. There are secrets to Cinder...

Hi everyone, My name is Roselyn Jewell and I wanted to let you know about my newly released YA eBook! Its dystopian fiction, set in a world where a lot of the population was wiped out by a pandemic and of the people left, about 75% of them have what's called The Roving, which is similar to ADHD. People with The Roving have trouble focusing and short attention spans. The post pandemic society is completely government run; the government decides everything, from where you'll live once you turn 17 (the age they consider you an adult) to who you are paired with and expected to marry and produce children, and what career path you will be put on. You can request certain pairings or careers but ultimately you must take what you're given and once you have your assignments, you cannot even request a change for 5 years. This book focuses on Hillary, the main character, who turns 17 and is not at all happy with any of her assignments. Not only that, she's seriously struggling...

Savage Run is a YA futuristic dystopia by E. J. Squires. In one of the last hierarchical societies, Newland has a set standard of classes – and seventeen year old Heidi Cruise, being both a Laborer and a female, is in the lowest ranking set. She has already seen her best friend suffer under the ruthless hand of her Master in less than a year and soon it will be Heidi’s turn to be assigned a Master, as well. But she refuses to accept that. It is the time of year that the Savage Run begins – a brutal, male-only obstacle program that offers the lower classes to compete with one goal in mind: survive and become a Master. Determined to find freedom, Heidi is convinced their only chance is to pretend to be male and enter the Savage Run. Yet before they are even able to register, things begin to fall apart. Is it possible for a Laborer, and a female one at that, to ever be free? I will say that occasionally the writing and editing of Savage Run felt like it could use some impr...

The Well of Ascension is the second book in the high fantasy trilogy Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. If you haven’t read Mistborn yet, I would strongly suggest you do not read this review. Instead, go read Mistborn ! Though Vin and her group of thieves-turned-rebels have ended a tyrant government that had been held for a thousand years, the final words of the Lord Ruler haunt Vin. She may not want to believe that the Lord Ruler was holding something even worse back, but she cannot ignore the growing threatening nature of the mists and the figure that is watching her amidst them. Beyond the supernatural concern, Elend’s new freedom-focused government of Luthadel is being confronted with multiple outside armies who’ve decided they’d like to take the kingdom from the young king. Defeating the Lord Ruler was only the beginning… The Well of Ascension was quite something. Just as when I entered into Mistborn , part of me wondered if The Well of Ascension could possibly be w...

Mistborn is the first book in the high fantasy epic The Final Empire trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Sixteen-year-old Vin knows that you cannot trust anyone. Her mother tried to kill her. Her brother abandoned her. And now, in order to survive, she works with a group of poor Skaa thieves – the group leader utilizing her as a sort of “good luck charm”, due to her strange ability to be able to make people less scrupulous than normal. Kelsier is a Mistborn that Snapped after a sequence of terrible incidents. Now he’s using his abilities and brash confidence to begin an uprising against the tyrannical thousand year reign of the Lord Ruler. But how do you get a people – the Skaa – to stand up and fight after they’ve no will to do so any longer? When Vin meets Kelsier, her life dramatically changes. She is roped into their planned rebellion – a scheme that is so outlandish to Vin she can hardly believe they’re attempting it – and is told that these odd powers she has are actually the re...

Parched is a sci-fi dystopian YA novel by Georgia Clark. Born and raised a privileged Edenite, sixteen-year-old Tessa Rockwood left everything behind after the sudden, violent death of her scientist mother to escape to the Badlands. The Badlands are outside the lush borders of Eden – where water is a precious, rare commodity, as is privacy, prosperity or nearly anything that comes easy in Eden. After years of the Trust – those that govern Eden – leading Edenites to believe the Badlands are simply an exotic, humbler place, Tessa now knows the ugly, brutal truth. So, when she is approached to return to Eden and secretly fight the inequality by joining a rebel group called Kudzu, Tessa does. She attempts to swallow down her gnawing guilt at the secrets only she knows about her mother’s death and tries to slip back into her old life by showing up at her uncle’s home. It’s tougher than she expected to return, though. And as it’s revealed that the Trust may be tinkering with artif...

Fox Forever is a YA sci-fi novel – and the third in the Jenna Fox Chronicles – by Mary E. Pearson. Happily, I was able to take the time to re-read The Adoration of Jenna Fox and The Fox Inheritance before reading Fox Forever . Yet again I was moved and amazed by the originality and characterizations that made both books so stunning. I recommend reading these books in order to get the whole effect – so refrain from reading this review if you haven’t yet read The Adoration of Jenna Fox and The Fox Inheritance . Locke Jenkins has left the relative comfort of Jenna’s home to live the life he’s been robbed of for the last 260 years – time that Jenna has lived, despite still looking a young seventeen-years-old. But he has a Favor to repay – from the time that he and Kara were escaping from the monstrous Dr. Gatsbro and the Network – those who are on the fringes of society as non-civilians in this futuristic, split United States - helped them. They seem to think Locke would be ...

The Here and Now is a YA contemporary novel with a time travel twist from Ann Brashares. This is the first novel I’ve read from Brashares that is not Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants related. Seventeen-year-old Prenna knows the rules. Since she and the others in her community immigrated to New York from the future – a time of disease and death – the rules have been repeated endlessly. Don’t tell anyone where you’re from. Don’t interfere with history. Don’t become intimate with anyone outside of the community. However, Prenna has always felt that nice, good-looking classmate Ethan Jarves knew something. As much as she tried to follow the rules and be very careful to not reveal anything, his eyes held perceptiveness – almost a shared secrecy. When Prenna is faced with the truth about her community and what they are – or are not – doing to prevent the future plague, she’s forced to decide where her loyalties lie. And if she needs to break the rules… Initially, I didn’t fe...

Allegiant is a YA dystopian sci-fi novel and the third in the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. You know the drill bibliophiles, don’t read this review unless you’ve already read Divergent and Insurgent . Understood? Final warning… Now that Tris has made the message her mother was protecting known to the factions and factionless alike - risking her life, her relationships and her strength in doing so – she now has to face what it means. Her way of life – the way of life of everyone she’s ever known – has been put into question. Are they all part of an experiment? Have they just been preparing Divergent to save the world?? With the loss of their core understanding, Tris, Tobias and others decide to venture outside of the limits they’ve never passed as the environment around them is shattering anyway. They want to find purpose again… What’s beyond the limits only creates more uncertainty, however. Tris and the others find themselves faced with truths they do not want to ...

Insurgent is a YA dystopian novel, the second in the Divergent trilogy, by Veronica Roth. If you have not read Divergent – this review will have spoilers for that first book – I strongly advise not reading this review until you’ve read Divergent . Understood? UNDERSTOOD?!?!? Okay, I’m trusting only readers of Divergent are continuing on now… Initiation Day in the Dauntless faction should have been one of joy for Tris – she had finally cemented her place in Dauntless, no longer in fear of becoming factionless - and finding her place among the courageous, free Dauntless is what she’s wanted for so long. Instead, it became a living nightmare. Tris, as a Divergent, was one of the few “awake” Dauntless while she witnessed her faction put under a forced simulation that caused her friends to become murderers – and an entire faction to be wiped out. When the morning comes, the horror is not over – and the remnants of what Tris had to do haunting her mind and hurting her resolv...

Divergent is a YA dystopian thriller and the first in a trilogy written by Veronica Roth - as you probably well know. Yes, yes. I know word has been out on these books for a while – but cut a girl some slack! There are too many books and too little time, people!! In a futuristic Chicago, society has been split into factions that define your outlook, beliefs and the loyalties that will define you forever. These factions were originally established to create a peaceful life and to right the wrongs done in the past. At a predetermined time every year, that year’s sixteen year olds have to choose – choose the faction that they will spend their life in. It’s a choice that separates family and friends and defines who you are. When Beatrice makes her choice, it will transform her… Okay, I did not give away much AT ALL. Because if you, like me, haven’t read it until now the less you know the better! Because: Divergent is AWESOME . Immediately Veronica Roth presents an enthral...

The Kill Order is the YA dystopian horror prequel to James Dashner’s Maze Runner series. I know I’ve taken my time on this one, a bit. After being very into The Maze Runner , then slightly less enchanted with The Scorch Trials and quite a bit irritated with The Death Cure – I became quite sure there was no need for me to reenter this world that had disappointed me. Yet… here I am. And, I have to say, it was much better than I expected. A brief synopsis, if you will: When the sun flares hit the earth and the world as we know it changed forever – Mark and Trina were there. Just as they’ve reached a point where survival seems to be getting a little easier – just when the horrifying memories of those early days of terror aren’t the only thing on their minds – it begins. A disease that seems to mutate, change and worsen – a disease of the mind, causing rage and insanity – seems to be spreading across the landscape of what is left of the United States. Hoping to find a cure,...

Inhuman is a YA futuristic sci-fi dystopian novel by Kat Falls, and the first in the Fetch series. After a biological disaster has left all of the United States east of the Mississippi River blocked off by a huge, sprawling wall life is completely different. Time has passed and Lane McEvoy does not know anything different. But there is that stomach churning fear and curiosity over what lies on the other side of the wall. A place now called the Feral Zone, where the millions of people infected with a virus have been mutated into bloodthirsty savages. Curiosity can truly kill you though – punishment for violating the border is execution. But when Lane is faced with the knowledge that someone she loves has passed the wall – and she’s tasked with bringing them back she sees just how unprepared she is to travel through the Feral Zone. Will her humanity prove to be her strength… or her downfall? My synopsis may not do the plot of Inhuman justice, but I definitely didn’t want t...

Burn is the third and final novel in the YA post-apocalyptic Pure trilogy by Julianna Baggott. Being that this is an ambitious, complex, rewarding trilogy – if you haven’t read Pure and Fuse already, you definitely need to! This review will hold inadvertent spoilers of those first two books, so you’ll want to avoid this review and click on the above titles to learn more about the prior novels first. Got it?! But if you have already read Pure and Fuse , then you can obviously continue! Partridge has inherited leadership over the Dome – an enclosed refuge among the ruins of what once was our world – after the death of his father. The inhabitants, soaking in their denial that has become ingrained over the years, wish to mourn him. But Partridge wants to expose his secrets, instead. He wants to unite the Dome and its “Pure” inhabitants with the disfigured, fused “Wretches” on the outside. The ones that had been left to die all those years ago. His new position of power...