Book Review (117). Survive - Alex Morel

Survive

by Alex Morel

Publication: July 2012

Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont

Pages: 259

Genre: Action/Adventure

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Jane is running away from everything. From the facility she’s been living in, from her pain, from her guilt, from life. She boards a plane to Montclair, New Jersey, though her destination isn’t important – she doesn’t plan to be alive when the plane lands.


Jane has devised the perfect suicide. She’ll fall asleep on the plane and never wake up. But as she’s reaching for her pills in the tiny bathroom, the plane hits turbulence and everything goes black.

Jane wakes amid the charred wreckage of a plane crash on a snowy mountaintop, and discovers just one other survivor – a boy named Paul. Lost in a perilous, icy landscape, with little food and water, their chance of survival seems small. But as the pair unite against the vast wilderness, Jane discovers a reason to fight for her life.

My Thoughts.

I loved that Morel didn't end this book the way that most Y/A  books do in the sense that not every story has a happy ending and it just adds more realism to the story.

This book does touch on serious topics such as depression and suicide but is done in a tasteful manner and it explains a lot of back-story concerning Jane.

This book is action packed pretty much from the get go, and you never know what will happen next.

It's not that far into the story when the plane crash occurs, just as Jane is about to ingest the pills in the bathroom the plane nosedives and starts it's plummet towards the ground, when she wakes up she finds the plane crashed on a mountaintop in three pieces, everybody is dead except for Paul, a boy who was seated in the seat next to hers.

At first their relationship is a bit love/hate and their comments to each other had me laughing to myself.

'What if you fall?" I call down. He looks up and smiles. 'It'll be romantic, Jane. We'll die together, like Romeo and Juliet.' I take a big gulp of air and breathe out. What an ass.

'Jane Solis,' he shouts, still flat on his back, 'you pull like a donkey.' Like I said, what an ass.

'No-one's ever touched them before. I mean nobody I didn't pay to touch them.' 'You employed some male hookers to touch your scars?' 

It's not long before Jane and Paul start to depend on each other and slowly start to develop feelings for each other, you wish nothing will come to harm for these two and that they make it off the mountain and that they both make it home safely.

But with the huge possibility of hypothermia, no food and treacherous conditions in the snow and freezing cold the odds are against them.

This book had me on the edge of my seat, and if that wasn't enough it even had me in tears, this book took me on a roller-coaster ride and it was hard at times to put the book down.

I loved this book and can't wait to see whats up next for Morel.

I give this 4/5.

A Big Thanks To Hardie Grant Egmont Australia.

Cover Reveal: Rua - Miranda Kavi

Rua by Miranda Kavi

Expected Pub: September 3, 2012

A girl with an unknown destiny.

A boy from a hidden world.

When Celeste starts at a new school in a small, Kansas town, she hears whispering voices, has vivid nightmares, and swarms of blackbirds follow her every move. She is oddly drawn to aloof Rylan, the other new student who has his own secrets.

The exact moment she turns seventeen, she wakes to a bedroom full of strange creatures, purple light emanating from her hands, and Rylan breaking in through her bedroom window.

He knows what she is . . .

Intriguing and deeply romantic, RUA is page-turning YA novel with a supernatural twist. 

Author Bio:

Miranda Kavi

Miranda Kavi is a YA and Urban Fantasy author. She has worked as an attorney, an executive recruiter, and an assistant in a biological anthropology lab. She loves scary movies, museums, and is hopelessly addicted to chocolate. She lives in the Houston area with her husband and daughter.

Author Links:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/10592745-miranda-kavi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/miranda00writes

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MirandaKavi

Bookish Brunette Blog Tours.

Cover Reveal And Giveaway: Colonization: Paradise 21 - Aubrie Dionne

Finding a new home has never been so dangerous.

Andromeda has spent all seventeen years of her life aboard a deep space transport vessel destined for a paradise planet. Her safe cocoon is about to break open as Paradise 21 looms only one month away, and she must take the aptitude tests to determine her role on the new world and her computer assigned lifemate. As a great-granddaughter of the Commander of the ship, she wants to live up to her family name. But, her forbidden love for her childhood friend, Sirius, distracts her and she fails the tests. The results place her in a menial role in the new colony and pair her with Corvus, “the oaf”.

But when Andromeda steps foot on Paradise 21, her predestined future is the least of her worries. Alien ghosts from a failed colonization warn her of a deadly threat to her colony. And when Sirius's ship crashes on the far ridge in an attempt to investigate, she journeys to rescue him with Corvus.

Andromeda now must convince the authorities of the imminent danger to protect her new home. What she didn't expect was a battle of her own feelings for Sirius and Corvus.

Can she save the colony and discover her true love?

Author Bio:

Aubrie Dionne writes science fiction fantasy with romantic elements. Her writings have appeared in Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, Emerald Tales, Hazard Cat, Moon Drenched Fables, A Fly in Amber, and Aurora Wolf. Her books are published by Inkspell Publishing, Entangled Publishing, Lyrical Press, and Gypsy Shadow Publishing. She’s also a professional flutist in New England.

Please visit her website: www.authoraubrie.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2964057.Aubrie_Dionne

Twitter: @authoraubrie

Blog: http://authoraubrie.blogspot.com

Giveaway! – Open for US and UK only.

We have a very cool keyring as a giveaway. J

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review (116) Two Weeks' Notice - Rachel Caine

Two Weeks' Notice (Revivalist #2)

by Rachel Caine

Publication: 25th July 2012

Publisher: Penguin Australia

Pages: 324

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Age Appropriate: 16+

**Warning Contains Spoilers From The Previous Book In The Series**

After dying and being revived with the experimental drug Returne, Bryn Davis is theoretically free to live her unlife - with regular doses to keep her going. But Bryn knows that the government has every intention of keeping a tight lid on Pharmadene's life-altering discovery, no matter the cost. Thankfully, some things have changed for the better; her job at the rechristened Davis Funeral Home is keeping her busy and her fragile romance with Patrick McCallister is blossoming - thanks in part to their combined efforts in forming a support group for Returne addicts. But when some of the group members suddenly disappear, Bryn wonders if the government is methodically removing a threat to their security, or if some unknown enemy has decided to run the zombies into the ground…

My Thoughts.

I've come to the conclusion that Rachel Caine can do no wrong when it comes to her writing and me!

So while I haven't read all of the series she has released, what I have read is absolutely fantastic, I'm a huge fan of her Morganville Vampires series and in no way thought that this series could ever be as good, but I was so wrong, and I'm certainly glad for that.

I love how easily Caine can go from Paranormal to Urban Fantasy and excel at both, a sign of a great writer.

It was a perfect day for a funeral.

Months have passed since the end of the last book and Bryn and Joe are still working at what is now known as Davis Funeral Home, she has started a support group for fellow Returne addicts and has moved in with Patrick.

After avoiding an attack by two men outside the funeral home one night Bryn is called in by the FBI to help on a case, but it's a trap and a bomb has been set to go off but not before she finds seven dead bodies and an encrypted thumb drive which contains videos of three Returne addicts being shot and burned alive, after investigating she also finds that there are a few missing as well and seeks out the answers to why this is all happening.

He'd love to recruit the two of you to his army of the walking dead, with all your ninja combat skills." "I'm not a ninja," Pat said. "Speak for yourself man." That earned Joe a poisonously angry glance from Pat.

Bryn is also still trying to find her sister Annie who was taken by Mercer in the previous book, and still trying to stay on the good side of Riley who is under pressure trying to keep the Returne addicts and the Pharmadene situation under wraps from the public.

"You're not going to forget it, are you, Joe?" "Which part? The two of you naked in bed? Bryn going hand-to hand naked? Because it's fairly memorable, my friend.

I love Joe he is so funny and the comments he comes out with always have me chuckling to myself, plus he's a great friend to both Patrick and Bryn.

"The good news is, probably no big deal for me to run a wire up your bra anymore, now that I've seen you naked."

"They said you'd been ambushed by two guys. Opinion was they were your garden-variety abducting serial killer types with a thing for hot blond funeral directors." "Excuse me?" "Which part of that did you object to? I hope not the 'hot blond.'"

I love that Bryn and Patrick are officially a couple but I never would have guessed at the twist with these two and I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped out of sheer "WHAT THE????"

And that ending, WHY????, I don't have the patience for the next book, you can't leave us with a revelation like that, which will definitely change the storyline, and can I say now EWWW!

A great book, great series now if only this series could be released as fast as the Morganville Vampires books seems to be and I'd be one extremely happy girl.

I give this 5/5.

A Big Thanks To Penguin Australia.

In My Mailbox (38).

In My Mailbox Is A Weekly Meme Hosted By Kristi The Story Siren.

Review.

Kiss Of Midnight (Midnight Breed #1) - Lara Adrian (Murdoch Books Australia)
Just For Fins (Fins #3) - Tera Lynn Childs (Harper Collins Australia)

Brought.

Spark (Sky Chasers #2) - Amy Kathleen Ryan
Forever Claimed (Claiming #3) - Rachel Lee
A Warrior's Desire (The Esri #3) - Pamela Palmer
Wolf Whisperer - Karen Whiddon
The Devil Wears Tartan - Karen Ranney
Sapphire Dream (Jewels Of Time #1) - Pamela Montgomerie

Upcoming Books That Don't Yet Have Covers.

Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X #1)

by Richelle Mead 

"NYT bestselling author Richelle Mead's GAMEBOARD OF THE GODS, the first novel in her new adult paranormal series, Age of X, featuring an unlikely pair charged with investigating mystical phenomena in a futuristic world that was nearly destroyed by religious extremists..."

Expected publication: December 2013 by Dutton (first published 2013)

Rearview Mirror

by Rachel Harris 

Aubrie Guidry is living a lie. After the death of her best friend Krista in a devastating car accident—one where Aubrie was a passenger in the car—she’s given up her goth girl/performing arts persona and taken on, well, Krista’s. 

She’s a cheerleader. She’s spunky. She’s blond.

The only time she’s able to admit to the pain she still suffers from is when she’s alone in her room, looking in the rearview mirror from her friend’s totaled car, and writing her true feelings in invisible ink on her bedroom walls. That is, until Ben, Krista’s brother, comes back to New Orleans from NYU. Ben sees right through Aubrie’s façade, and is desperate to save her. 

But when Krista’s voice starts speaking to both of them, can they uncover what really happened that fateful winter’s night?

Expected publication: December 2013 by Entangled Teen

Anne Boleyn and the Zombie Apocalypse (Anne Boleyn Trilogy #1)

by Bianca Ison

It all started with a simple bite.

Anne Boleyn woke on the eve of her 16th birthday expecting a small gathering with her father Thomas and her sister Mary and archery hunting in the woods behind their home.

What she got was a country ravaged by fire and death.
Her mother eaten in half on the kitchen floor.
Her sister and father infected and hunting her down with the rest of the walkers.
And a group of teens hellbent on survival - the Swordsman Marquess of Pembroke, Prince Henry VIII of England, Axe wielder Jane Seymour, and Dagger wielder Catherine of Aragon.

In a world now in turmoil and ruin, Anne must learn to survive the Zombie Apocalypse... or become one of them herself.

Expected publication: December 2013

The Bone Season

by Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season begins in 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. She works as an envoy between secret cells: she drops in an out of people's minds. For Paige is a lucid dreamer, a clairvoyant, and in her world, the world of Scion, she commits high treason simply by breathing. It is raining the day her life changes forever. Attacked, kidnapped and transported to Oxford, a city that has been kept secret for two hundred years, she meets Warden, a Rephaite with dark honey skin and heavy-lidded yellow eyes. He is the single most beautiful and frightening thing she has every laid eyes on – and he will become her "keeper".

Expected publication: September 12th 2013 by Bloomsbury

Vicious

by Victoria Schwab

About two best friends whose college experiments to create supernatural abilities wind up turning them against each other.

Expected publication: September 2013 by Tor

Prophesy Of Oz (Prophecy of Oz Trilogy #1)

by Megan Shan

Helena's Aunt Dorothy has told her stories of Oz from a young age. When she finds a trunk with some Ruby Red slippers she finds herself in an adventure that will give her life long friends and will break every thing that she has ever believed.

Expected publication: August 5th 2013

Feature And Follow Friday (36).

Q: Summer Reading. What was your favorite book that you were REQUIRED to read when you were in school?

Sadly enough I honestly can't remember any books I was required to read at school, so the only thing I'm taking away from that is, obviously I didn't like any and they left no impression whatsoever!