Wither by Lauren DeStefano

 

Synopsis

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out.

My review:

 This Book made me step back and say Wow!

 A very well written story!

 Able to catch your attention from line one and hold it until the very last word.

 I hope we never come to live in a world like this, yet in some ways we already do which makes it so much more believable and scary.  

The girls are so different and yet here they are in this cage of a life with no choices of their own.  I found myself wondering what life I would choose if given the choice to live their old lives or the life as a Sister wife.

Rhine who narrates the story from her view and her desire to escape is strong willed with a never ending desire to be home again. She is caring but also a very capable liar able to deceive to her advantage.

Jenna who is resigned to live the rest of her life as a sister wife is quiet but misses nothing that is going on around her.

Cecily is a naive child who sees love, wedding bells, children and one big happy family. She cannot imagine a better life and therefore cannot imagine why everyone is not thrilled to live this life they share.

 In the beginning I disliked linden the husband but by the end I just felt sorry for him.

 His father gives me the creepy crawlies all through the story.

I look forward to see where Lauren takes this story. Will there be a happy ending to this series?

I guess I will have to wait and see.

I recommend this book with 4.5 starts from cover to cover!

Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter

ARC

Product Details

• Pub. Date: March 2011
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Format: Paperback , 416pp
• Sales Rank: 96,277

• ISBN-13: 9780312624675
• ISBN: 0312624670
• Edition Description: First Edition

Synopsis

Don’t miss this spectacular new series that will steal your heart and haunt your dreams,  Welcome to Shadow Falls camp, nestled deep in the woods of a town called Fallen…
One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever.  Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.”  Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.
Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either.  Or does she?  They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason.  As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas.  Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past.  Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart. 
Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…
My review:
Simply a must read !
I found I couldn't put this book down. 
Kylie is your "almost" typical teen with The  ex -boyfriend, parent issues, the friend who likes to party a bit more than you and somehow you end up in trouble, and she sees a ghost.Most of us have at least one of these in our teen years if not all. Which makes Kylie easy to relate to from the start. Once she is sent to Shadow Falls things get a little stranger but through the strangeness and help of new friends  Kylie begins to understand better who she is as a person and where she comes from although she still has a lot to figure out including what to do about the hot half fairy"Derek" and the super hot werewolf "Lucas" who I truly hope to read a lot more about in books to come!This book had  a great paranormal twist with hot guys,creepy cool new friends, a bit of mystery when added together have created the first book in what I believe is going to be a great series!
I recommend this book with a solid 5 stars!

Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

netgalley

Overview -

Angel Burn

Product Details

• Pub. Date: May 2011
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Format: MP3 on CD

• ISBN-13: 9781455809325
• ISBN: 1455809322

Synopsis

Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow that Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed romantic trilogy, L. A. Weatherly sends listeners on a thrill ride of a road trip – and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.
My Review:
I really enjoyed this first book in the Angel trilogy, from the truly creepy thought of Angels who feed off humans "I mean really wouldn't that just suck!", the fighting and running for your life action, and of course the  always enjoyable love story.
Following Willow"Half angel" and Alex"Angel Killer" through the short glimpses of their life prior to meeting each other and how the Angels affected both of their lives and family's, their dislike and eventually love for each other and how they get   from one point to the other all the while trying to survive on the run from Angels was great and had me turning page after page. 
I cannot wait to see how this trilogy continues .
I recommend this book with 4.5 stars!

Lost Voices By Sarah Porter

Overview -

netgalley

Lost Voices

Product Details

• Pub. Date: July 2011
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Format: Hardcover , 304pp
• Sales Rank: 1,009,642
• Age Range: Young Adult

• ISBN-13: 9780547482507
• ISBN: 0547482507

Synopsis

Fourteen-year-old Luce has had a tough life, but she reaches the depths of despair when she is assaulted and left on the cliffs outside of a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village. She expects to die when she tumbles into the icy waves below, but instead undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid. A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: the mermaids feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks. Luce possesses an extraordinary singing talent, which makes her important to the tribe—she may even have a shot at becoming their queen. However her struggle to retain her humanity puts her at odds with her new friends. Will Luce be pressured into committing mass murder?
The first book in a trilogy, Lost Voices is a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive.
My Review:
Throughout this book I had mixed feelings on where it was headed and what I thought of it.
In the end I found the story to be a combination of many different  feelings from sympathetic, heartbreaking,irritating and just plane pissed me off at points. I guess I expected more from Luce and the other girls than I found at points in the story but after all they are only human...Kinda! 
That being said I enjoyed this book. The idea that such tragedy can turn young girls into mermaids is interesting. I look forward to seeing where  Sara takes these girls and their story's.
I recommend this book with 3.5 stars

The Other world series by Yasmine Galenorn

Meet the D'Artigo sisters, Delilah, Menolly, and Camille: half-human, half-faerie, they're savvy--and sexy--operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency, but their mixed-blood heritage short-circuits their talents at all the wrong times. Original.Meet three semi-supernatural sisters, out to save the Otherworld . . .

We're the D'Artigo sisters: Half-human, half-Faerie, we're savvy - and sexy - operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. But our mixed-blood heritage short-circuits our talents at all the wrong times. My sister Delilah shapeshifts into a tabby cat whenever she's stressed. Menolly's a vampire who's still trying to get the hang of being undead. And me? I'm Camille - a wicked-good witch. Except my magic's as unpredictable as the weather, as my enemies are about to find out the hard way . . .
At the Wayfarer Inn, a portal to Otherworld and the local hangout for humans and beasties alike, a fellow operative, Jocko, has been murdered. Every clue points to Shadow Wing, the soul-munching, badass leader of the Subterranean Realms. He's made it clear that he aims to raze humankind to the ground, turning both Earth and Otherworld into his private playground. Our assignment: Keep Shadow Wing and his minions from creeping into Earth via the Wayfarer. The demons figure they're in like Flynn. After all, with only my bumbling sisters and me standing in the way, how can they miss? But we've got a secret for them: Faulty wiring or not, nobody kicks ass like the D'Artigo girls
My Review:
I started this series for the simple fact that the covers caught my attention. It turns out that I LOVE  this series. Each and everybook has everything I could ask for in an adult based paranormal series. Great women lead characters,Hot men,Bad guys,  Bad ass fighting, Hot sex scenes, Humor,Adventure, And love all in a great easy to read can't put down series..I look forward to each and every new book to come.
I greatly reccomend  this series with 5stars!

American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout

NETGALLEY

American Vampire

Product Details

• Pub. Date: February 2011
• Publisher: Mira
• Format: Mass Market Paperback , 336pp
• Sales Rank: 227,976
• ISBN-13: 9780778328780
• ISBN: 0778328783
• Synopsis
•  

HE'S THE GOOD KIND OF VAMPIRE. SORT OF.Buried in the Heartland is a town that no one enters or leaves. Graf McDonald somehow becomes its first visitor in more than five years…and he was only looking for a good party. Unfortunately, Penance, Ohio, is not that place. And after having been isolated for so long, they do not like strangers at all.
Jessa's the only one to even remotely trust him, and she's desperate for the kind of protection that only a vampire like Graf can provide. Supplies are low, the locals are ornery for a sacrifice and there's a monster more powerful than Graf lurking in the woods. New men are hard to come by in this lonesome town, and this handsome stranger might be Jessa's only hope for salvation.
Even if she has to die first..

My review:
I went into this  book expecting the normal bad ass nothing can stop me
vampire..Wow! was I not expecting what I got. Graf is in no way your typical vampire.
I enjoyed this book a lot!
The setting being trapped in a "podunk "  town as Graf puts it with a woman"Jessa" he can't decide if he wants to eat or love,a bad ass monster and a whole lotta crazy.
Will they make it alive?
This was a good easy read that I didn't want to put down. I am hoping for more of the American Vampire!
4  stars!

Haint Misbehavin' by Maureen Hardegree

netgalley

Haint Misbehavin'

Product Details

• Pub. Date: June 2010
• Publisher: BelleBooks
• Format: Paperback , 222pp
• Sales Rank: 428,062
• Age Range: Young Adult

• ISBN-13: 9781935661931
• ISBN: 1935661930

Synopsis

The start of a fun middle-grade series, The Ghost Handlers, follows Heather Tildy, an Atlanta teen with a troublesome habit of attracting ghosts. Middle-child Heather has enough to worry about with sisters, boys and school. Now that a trouble-making girl from the 1800's is poking her nose in Heather's business, her life has taken a supernatural turn for the worse! Before her life can get better, she has to figure out how to help the ghost move on.
My Review:
I really enjoyed this book. Well written and faced paced. Funny and relateable.
I believe all girls can relate to some aspect of  this story from beginning to end.
Heather and her family and friends are typical everyday people with the exception of a ghost.
Full of laughs,bad decisions, good decisions an all around good story.
4.5 STARS