For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.I don't really know how I feel about this one. I was really excited to read Shiver when I first bought it, but I was a little disappointed. I think I was just expecting more. There were moments that I was into the story and moments where I put it down and struggled with picking it up again.
This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.This sounds SO interesting and intriguing to me!
When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.
8.) The Little House on the Prairie Series- I'm thankful to the main series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the many spin-offs that followed. These are the books I devoured through elementary school and did an amazing job of nurturing my love for reading and historical fiction. I can't wait to read these stories to my own children one day.
Jude Ryder and Lucy Larson are this generation's Romeo and Juliet: Explosive. Sizzling. Tragic.Two words: Jude Ryder. Review over.
A steamy summer encounter with bad boy Jude means trouble for Lucy. Her sights are set on becoming a ballerina, and she won't let anything get in her way . . . except Jude.
He's got a rap sheet, dangerous mood swings, and a name that's been sighed, shouted, and cursed by who knows how many girls.
Jude's a cancer, the kind of guy who's fated to ruin the lives of girls like Lucy—and he tells her so.
But as rumors run rampant and reputations are destroyed, Lucy's not listening to Jude's warning. Is tragedy waiting in the wings? This racy romance is hot, hot, hot!
"The name’s Jude Ryder, since I know you're all but salivating like a rabid dog to know, and I don't do girlfriends, relationships, flowers or regular phone calls. If that works for you, I think we could work out something special."
“How does a guy like you promise someone forever at eighteen?”“Easy,” he said, pressing a soft kiss into the corner of my mouth. “He finds a girl like you.”
“You can’t be friends with the person you were meant to spent your life with.”
Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She's content to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast--home is all she's ever known and all she needs for happiness.Another beautifully written story by Carrie Ryan. I swear, in my opinion, she is a master of plot twists, but in the most excellent way. Throughout this book we see a major theme of "what-if's". "What if I did this" or "What if I didn't do that" or "What if I didn't go there", etc. We see the full impact that one very small decision or moment can have on entire lives. We get an extremely thought-provoking story. Ryan does such a wonderful job crafting the most powerful scenes. And there are plenty of those in The Dead-Tossed Waves.
But life after the Return is never safe.
Gabry's mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but like the dead in their world, secrets don't stay buried. And now, Gabry's world is crumbling.
In one reckless moment, half of Gabry's generation is dead, the other half imprisoned.
Now Gabry knows only one thing: if she has any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother's past.
Since she'd been on the outside, she'd survived an Aether storm, she'd had a knife held to her throat, and she'd seen men murdered. This was worse.I don't know why I didn't enjoy this as much as so many others; I just couldn't get sucked in the same way I do with the stories that I love. That's not to say I didn't like this one, because I did, it just took awhile to get there. I almost gave up in the first few chapters because I couldn't figure out what was going on or get a clear picture of this world in my head. After reading a huge amount of good reviews, however, I decided to push on. And about 100 pages in things started to come together. It is very unique and sets itself apart from a lot of the other books in the genre which was a good thing. But that could have contributed the fact that I had a harder time picturing this world.
Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland - known as The Death Shop - are slim. If the cannibals don't get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She's been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He's wild - a savage - and her only hope of staying alive.
A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile - everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria's help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.
In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?Carrie Ryan has a very, very nice writing style. The writing is clear, intelligent, and smooth. She did an amazing job with the world building (though I admit that I pictured the Unconsecrated to look exactly like the Walkers in Walking Dead). The is an extremely intense book from start to finish but Ryan handled the characters and all their situations nicely. Just from the writing style alone, I'll never hesitate to pick up another book written by her.
“Who are we if not the stories we pass down? What happens when there's no one left to tell those stories? To hear them? Who will ever know that I existed? What if we are the only ones left -- who will know our stories then? Who will remember those?”
“That's just the way life is. Some days you wake up and the beach is clear and you forget about everything that surrounds us. And some days you wake up and it looks like this. That's the nature of the tides."
“He places his hands over mine, the feeling so warm and familiar. 'Those days back there, in the house. That is my world. That is my truth,' he says. 'That is my ocean.”
Megan Bright and Jackson Dawes are two teenagers who first meet each other on the hospital ward where they are both being treated for cancer. Megan is scared and worried about her illness, but Jackson seems to be an old hand, having been on the ward for ages. And everybody loves Jackson! He is a whirlwind of life and energy, warmth and sparkle. Megan will need to borrow some of Jackson's extraordinary optimism to face her and Jackson's future. A moving story of first love and a remarkably powerful debut novel.This book sounds absolutely perfect for me! I'm very excited for it.
In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five....In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.
Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens -- until the day its complacency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy. For them, the lines between truth and fiction, right and wrong, insider and outsider have been obscured forever. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families.
Nineteen Minutes is New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult's most raw, honest, and important novel yet. Told with the straightforward style for which she has become known, it asks simple questions that have no easy answers: Can your own child become a mystery to you? What does it mean to be different in our society? Is it ever okay for a victim to strike back? And who -- if anyone -- has the right to judge someone else?
When Cecilia Randall, and her naval officer husband, Ian, appear in Judge Olivia Lockhart's Cedar Cove family court, they expect the good judge to grant the divorce they seek. But Olivia senses the couple still love one another and just need time to work on their marriage in the wake of their infant daughter's death. So Olivia denies their petition and makes headlines in the Cedar Cove Chronicle, earning the divorced mother more than journalistic admiration from the paper's editor, Jack Griffin. Meanwhile, Olivia's daughter, Justine, must decide if she will marry an older man her mother insists is wrong for her, and Olivia's best friend, Grace Sherman, the local librarian, is frantic with the disappearance of her husband, Dan. Everyone in Cedar Cove is talking!This is the first book in the Cedar Cover series and also my first read by Debbie Macomber. Let's just say that I am hooked. I adore Macomber's writing style. This is one of those books you curl up with on a cold night with tons of blankets and a cup of cocoa and just enjoy reading. I read this right after finishing Insurgent and it was perfect to clear my mind and lighten the mood.
A virus that had once been contained has returned, and soon no place will be left untouched by its destruction. But when seventeen-year-old Cheyenne wakes up in Elysian Fields--a subdivision cut off from the world and its monster-creating virus--she is thrilled to have a chance at survival.Summary from Goodreads.
At first, Elysian Fields,with its beautiful houses and manicured lawns, is perfect. Teo Richardson, the older man who stole Cheyenne's heart, built it so they could be together. But when Teo tells Cheyenne there are tests that she and seven other couples must pass to be worthy of salvation, Cheyenne begins to question the perfection of his world.
The people they were before are gone. Cheyenne is now "Persephone," and each couple has been re-named to reflect the most tragic romances ever told. Everyone is fighting to pass the test, to remain in Elysian Fields. Teo dresses them up, tells them when to move and how to act, and in order to pass the test, they must play along.
If they play it right, then they'll be safe.
But if they play it wrong, they'll die.
-Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
