Bibliophile Support Group

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...

Illuminae is the first book of the YA futuristic sci-fi thriller series The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Krisftoff. It started off like a day like any other in the year 2575 on the human inhabited planet of Kerenza. Kady had made the difficult decision to break up with her boyfriend Ezra – and she thought that would be the toughest thing about the day. She didn’t realize her planet would be attacked that afternoon, the victim of two rival mega-corporations battling over the tiny speck of universe they called their home. There was no warning before nearly everything was on fire and people were dying all around them. Suddenly she and her ex, barely speaking since that morning, are forced to flee together – in a desperate attempt to evacuate the planet. Yet even once they are off Kerenza, it is not the end of the nightmare. There is a warship after their refugee fleets. There’s mysterious talk of quarantines. And the AI that is supposed to be keeping them safe may actuall...

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...

Warm Bodies is, essentially, a zombie story – but so much more – by Isaac Marion. R doesn’t remember his name – none of his fellow Dead do. They don’t remember much of anything about their former lives, actually. He lives with a large hive of zombies in an abandoned airport, riding the conveyor belt, listening to Sinatra and calling an old 747 his home. Each day passes by in a blur. Then during a hunt, he meets a girl. A living girl – named Julie. Against all reason, instead of snacking on her brain, R takes Julie captive – but she becomes his hesitant guest. For some reason, R doesn’t want to eat Julie (well, most of the time) – he wants to protect her and try to talk to her (extremely difficult for zombies). Something is changing… Warm Bodies was INCREDIBLE!!! I was recommended it and I am so glad! Warm Bodies has moments that are shocking, sometimes gory, yet also surprisingly humorous, incredibly original and undeniably likable. It’s touching, dark and str...

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...

For Darkness Shows the Stars is a YA post-apocalyptic romance by Diana Peterfreund. Elliot North is of Luddite nobility. Since she was a child she was taught that the Luddites, who outlawed most technology, were the reason the human race survived after a genetic experiment went wrong many generations ago. That experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction. As one of the Luddite nobility, she has always been aware that her purpose is to protect the Reduced and enforce the Luddite principles to shun technological advances. Yet, as a young adult, Elliot knows things aren’t as simple as that. She was childhood best friends with Kai – a servant that was born to her family. He is not Reduced, but does not have the rights of a Luddite – he is one of the many Post-Reductionists that are changing the way the world looks at the future. Her friendship, her love, with Kai was fractured four years ago when Elliot refused to run away with him. When she chose to stay and look after the es...

Faerie After is the YA post-apocalyptic fantasy conclusion to Janni Lee Simner’s Bones of Faerie trilogy. Of course, you want to read Bones of Faerie and Faerie Winter before Faerie After – click on the titles to read my reviews. In my opinion spoilers are never good, so even though it probably wouldn’t be dire to the overall story, I recommend you don’t read my review/synopsis of Faerie After until you’ve read those first two books… Liza has been away from her home, learning more about her magic from Karin over the last few months. Though she misses her mother, Matthew, Kyle and others at home, life has been steadier than it was for quite some time. And the spring seems strong. But when Liza stumbles across a new danger – piles of ash where living creatures once stood – Liza comes to the realization that both the world of Faerie and the human realm are still deteriorating since the War. Everything will eventually turn to dust. Searching for a solution may mean crossing...

Half Lives is a YA sci-fi apocalyptic novel by Sara Grant. It was an ordinary day for Icie. She was being consoled by her best friend over the break-up text message she had gotten when her parents started to urgently reach out to her – telling her she had to get home immediately. When she did, she didn’t expect to be strapped with cash and given a backpack full of survival supplies – but that’s what happened. Then the gravity of what her parents were telling her started to sink in. They were privy to knowledge that a major, world-changing bio-terror event would be happening very soon and they wanted to get to a bunker in Vegas before it happened. Or rather, get Icie to a bunker. Getting there and then staying there ends up being more terrifying than she could imagine. Hundreds of years in the future, life has changed. People live and worship in the very bunker Icie is desperate to reach. They don’t leave. They fear terrorists. Their leader is Beckett, a teenager th...

Icons is a YA post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel by Margaret Stohl, of co-author of Beautiful Creatures fame. Dol is haunted by vivid memories of The Day. Of her father, her mother – her family – dying in that moment that took so many lives. The Day the world changed. Even though her life now is simple and quiet, hidden in the countryside along with her best friend Ro and others, the memories still hit her hard and strong, all these years later. It’s because of what she is. Telepathic-like abilities and the power of feeling others emotions plague her, just as strong anger and violent tendencies do Ro They’re different. And they don’t know why. But when she and Ro are captured on one initially normal day they’re taken to the Embassy where they meet Lucas and Tima – both with abilities of their own. Questions, secrets, and dangers abound as they search for answers and a chance of survival under the shadow of one of the largest Icons… I have a copy of Beautiful Creatures ...

Infernal Devices is the third YA sci-fi/dystopia novel in Philip Reeve’s Predator Cities Quartet . As with all series, jumping into the middle of it tends to spoil many plot points of earlier books – not to mention it’s usually confusing! I strongly suggest that if you haven’t read Mortal Engines and/or Predator’s Gold to click on their titles to read my reviews of those books instead. Even a review can ruin stuff for you! At least in the synopsis. So, please be careful! I don’t want to spoil anything for you… I’ll cry bibliophile tears!! A final warning to those of you that still need to turn away… Over a decade ago the engines of Anchorage settled and have not moved since. Now, the city is nestled in the land that was once America – a place that many never believed still existed. Tom Natsworthy and Hester Shaw have settled in, raising their daughter, and reveling in the peaceful life they’ve created. They don’t speak about the past, the terrible things they’ve seen or e...

Fuse is a YA post-apocalyptic novel, and the second in the Pure Trilogy , by Julianna Baggott. Seriously, if you haven’t read Pure yet, reading this review will not be a good idea! Pure is an excellent book and I strongly recommend checking out my review of it here , instead of spoiling yourself by perusing this review of its sequel. Agreed? Okay, now for those of you who have read Pure , here’s a light synopsis of Fuse : Outside of the Dome, the world is a nightmare. Partridge and Lyda, both Pure – untouched by the disasters that have wrecked the world by living in the Dome – are seeing now that the Wretches are not all terrible people – but they have endured horrifying conditions. Now, Partridge and Lyda, along with the non-Pure revolutionary Bradwell, tough Pressia, who has ties to Partridge they’ve only recently learned about, and El Capitan the changing leader fused to his brother Helmud are learning just how much Partridge’s father had to do with what devastated the ...