"DEFY" by Sara B. Larson (Both of us Liked This Fantasy!)

Manny Boy being defiant--ignoring the book!

In Defy by Sara B. Larson, Alexa is a fighter, the best of the guard that protects Prince Damian.  She also has a secret that she hides, but when another guard and the prince are taken captive, Alexa finds out there are other secrets out there.  

This book was SO GOOD!  I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it.  From page 1 I was hooked!  The characters are really good and there is lots of action too!  I will continue with this series for sure!  This is my book of the month!  I highly recommend this one!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)


(Karen's review 3/4/16)
Defy by Sara B. Larson is a YA fantasy novel about Alexa, who pretends she is a boy to avoid being captured and put into King Hector’s “breeding house.” Instead, she serves with her twin brother as a guard for Prince Damian. She is actually the best sword fighter in the army and would be captain except she is too young.

There is some mystery and action throughout this first book in the series. Secrets are revealed, people feel betrayed and Alexa finally gets to be herself. With some magic and a love triangle, this book kept my interest and I enjoyed it.  I look forward to reading the rest of this series with Ignite and Endure.
(4 stars)

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"Dark Breaks the Dawn" by Sara B. Larson (We Disagree on the Ending)

In Dark Breaks the Dawn by Sara B. Larson, Princess Evelayn can now have access to her full power!  Her mother is at the war front fighting against the Dark Power!  When her mom is killed, it is up to Evelayn to somehow gain the peace between Dark and Dawn.  WOW!

This book is so good!  The pace is perfect and it all leads to an incredible ending that I did not see coming at all!  I need book 2 soon!  This is a "must read" for fantasy lovers.
(Gerard's review 6/28/17, 5++ stars) 

Karen's review, 7/11/17:

Dark Breaks the Dawn by Sara B. Larson is a YA fantasy that held my interest from start to finish with no boring parts.  This has magic, romance, plots and betrayal.  It is not often I want to throw the book after I finish it, but this one got me riled up at the ending.  I really liked it all the way through up to the end which was heart breaking.    Because of the horrible ending, this one only gets 3 stars from me.

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"Windfall" by Jennifer E. Smith is Interesting (We Differ on this one!)

In Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith, Alice and Teddy have a very close friendship. On Teddy’s 18th birthday, Alice, who has a huge crush on him, bought him a lottery ticket with numbers she picked. Teddy won a big payday! Teddy and his mom, who had next to nothing, now can have everything! How will this change Teddy? Will Alice and Teddy’s relationship grow or will it break apart over money?  I enjoyed this book because Alice and Teddy are both great characters and I liked the ending.
(Gerard’s review, 5 stars)

Karen's review:
I didn't care much for Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith and quit on it about half way through. It just dragged along for me and I didn't much like any of the main characters. I thought Alice was a fool, Teddy was kind of a jerk and his friend (Leo I think his name was) turned me off because he was gay.  Gerard told me how it ended and I think I might have enjoyed the second half, but just got tired of plowing my way through all the lame conversations.  (1 star)

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"100 Hours" by Rachel Vincent

In 100 Hours by Rachel Vincent, Genesis and Maddie and their friends are on vacation in Columbia.  They are soon taken hostage and their parents better comply with the people now in charge or people will start getting killed.   The first 100 pages set the scene and from then on this book takes off in a good way!  There was just enough action to keep me interested and the ending makes me look forward to book 2.
(Gerard's review, 4 stars)

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Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh (UPDATED)

In Flame in The Mist by Renee Ahdieh, Mariko is to be married, but her convoy was cut short when the Black Clan attacked and killed everyone but her!  Mariko wants revenge and decides to join the Black Clan to find a way to destroy them and why they wanted her dead.  

I thought this book was really good!  Mariko is a great character and this book has good action along the way.  I enjoyed the twists in the story that I did not see coming and look forward to book 2 in this series!  (Gerard's review, 5 stars)

Karen's Review, 5/28/17:
Flame in The Mist by Renee Ahdieh centers around Japan and is the story of Mariko, a young woman who feels she is looked down upon because she is a female. She has a twin brother who is a warrior and she would like to be a warrior too. While on her way to becoming the bride of someone she never met that has been arranged by her father, her caravan is attacked and everyone is killed except for her. She gets away but before too long, finds the Black Clan who are the ones she believes were the attackers and wants to find out who wanted her dead.

This story has quite a bit of action in it and I enjoyed reading it even though parts were a bit confusing. The names were strange but I liked the relationship that developed between Okami and Marika. I liked how Marika was able to fool people into believing she was a guy. I did not really understand the magical stuff in this book like the enchanted forest and the beast that came and went. Some things just didn’t make sense to me. The strange ending left me hanging. I did not like the way it ended at all and for me, that brought my rating down from a 4 to a 3.  (3 stars)

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"Caraval" by Stephanie Garber

Caraval by Stephanie Garber is about Scarlett who has always wanted to go and experience Caraval, a faraway, one-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show.  Her father would not allow it though and she didn't have a ticket.  When she manages to get a ticket, she has her sister defy their father and go.  But when Scarlett gets there, her sister, Tella, goes missing.  Is that part of the Caraval game or is it something more?

I thought this book was very good.  Scarlett was a great character and I never knew what was real and what was not!  Sign me up for Book 2 in this series.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)  

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"Avenged" by Amy Tintera

Gerard's review, 5/17/17:
Avenged by Amy Tintera is the sequel to Ruined, which we both liked a lot.  EM is back, and that is a good thing.  Now she is the Queen of Ruina along with her sister, Olivia.  But they do not see things the same way!  Trouble is coming and Em must save her people and their land.  Will her sister get in her way?  Will Cas and Em get together?  This book went fast since it has good action and the ending sets up a great book 3.
(5 stars)

Karen's review, 5/20/17:
Avenged by Amy Tintera is a continuation of Ruined.  It took me a while to remember the characters because it's been so long since I read the first book of this series, but once my memory kicked in, I really enjoyed this book.  The sisters are both queens of Ruined together, but because they have different views about plain humans, things become quite rocky.  Olivia wants to fight off everyone and destroy them all while Em prefers to try to keep peace through negotiating.  At least they both agreed it would be a bad idea for either of them to marry the Oslo prince Austin, a complete jerk.  There is a lot of action in this and the relationships kept my interest.  It ended too soon, left me wanting more, ugh!  (4 stars)

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"The Takedown" by Corrie Wang

In The Takedown by Corrie Wang, Kyla has it going good, on track to be the valedictorian, debate champ and good friends including a loving boyfriend.  But when a video hit the internet just days before college applications, Kyla might lose it all!

I had a love-hate relationship with this book.  Just when I wanted to give up on it, I found a reason not to.  I liked the main character and it had a lot of hi-tech gadgets that were pretty cool with a real nice ending.
(Gerard's review, 4 stars)

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"Hunted" by Meagan Spooner

The father in Hunted by Meagan Spooner has three daughters.  He wants the best for them and invests his entire wealth into a plan.  When that plan blows up, he must move with his daughters to the forest.  There he will go hunt the beast and regain some wealth.  When he does not come back for some time, the youngest daughter heads out to find him and help kill the beast.

I really enjoyed this book a lot!  Yeva, the youngest daughter, is a great character.  There are subplots that really add to the enjoyment of the book.  The ending was perfect and this is a stand alone!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

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"Rebel of the Sands" by Alwyn Hamilton

In Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton, Amani is a young girl who wants out of her small town.  She will go to great lengths to make sure that happens.  She meets Jin in a shouting contest and she sees him as her ticket out of town, but little does she know she is about to go on the adventure of her life!

Amani is a great character who does not take gruff from anybody!  There is good action in this book but the last part has new characters introduced that got me a bit confused.  That being said, this first book by this author is well worth reading--on to book two!   
(Gerard's review, 4 stars)

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"The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die" by April Henry

In The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die by April Henry,  a young girl wakes up in a cabin.  She does not know who she is or what she is doing there.  What she does know is that two men are going to do something not so nice to her unless she does something quick.

This is a good short story.  It is just a little over 200 pages and kept my interest.  I liked the two main characters.  The story line is okay and the action moves along nicely.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars) 

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"The Great Hunt" by Wendy Higgins

The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins is a fun YA fantasy read about a princess whose father has promised she will marry whoever kills the beast that attacks villagers and has started even to attack close to the royals!  Many hunters come to the palace from surrounding kingdoms to hunt down this dreadful beast.  The other aspect of this novel is that some have magical power and some use it for good, such as to heal but others for evil, such as to kill.  The use of magic has been outlawed in most of the kingdoms, but the princess finds herself falling for one of the hunters who has magical powers, although he has hidden it well all his life.

I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the second in this series, The Great Pursuit.  Princess Aerity is not your normal princess and I do like her; however, I don't understand why she just didn't explain her feelings to her father and work with the winner of the hunt to get out of marrying him since it is obvious he likes someone else more.  I also didn't understand why she didn't kill the evil woman who created the beast when she had the chance.  I found the list of the royal families in front of the book helpful.  Although this book has several kingdoms, it is not confusing as some others of this type are.  If you like fantasy books with a touch of magic and lots of relationship development, I highly recommend this one.  I found it to be entertaining as well as amusing and adventurous.
(Karen's review, 4 stars)

The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins is a YA fantasy story I enjoyed. There is a beast in the land and it is causing rampage and loss of life. It must be stopped! The king decide that the man who kills the beast will get to marry the princess. I thought this novel was very good. It kept my interest for sure. I especially liked the relationship between the princess and one of the men trying to kill the beast. I thought the writing was really good too. I hope there is going to be a book 2. If that is so, I will be reading it too.
(Gerard's review 4/25/16, 5+ stars)

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"Future Threat" by Elizabeth Briggs

Future Threat by Elizabeth Briggs is the follow-up book to Future Shock. It was good to get back with Elena, Adam and Chris. They have to go to the future again in this book. We get some new characters in this one that I enjoyed. It flowed well with action and some good twists in the end. Although this one did not have the surprise factor of going into the future like the first book did, I still think it was pretty good.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

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"The You I've Never Known" by Ellen Hopkins

The You I've Never Known by Ellen Hopkins is about two young teen girls--Ariel and Maya.  Ariel lives with her dad.  Her mom disappeared when she was a baby,  When two people come into her life, she has some tough decisions to make.  Maya wants so bad to get away from her abusive mom but when she does, she finds trouble at every turn. 

The stories go back and forth, but Ariel's is told in verse so it goes pretty fast.  I enjoyed both of the stories very much.  The story lines were very good and the characters very believable with a shocking ending I really liked!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

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"Happily Ever After" by Kiera Cass

Happily Ever After by Kiera Cass is a companion to The Selection series and should only be read after you have read the series. It fills in some gaps and answers some questions about some of the main characters in the series, and retells events from different perspectives. It gives background about Queen Amberly and Maxon. Shares perspectives from Aspen, Marlee, and Celeste. It gives more details about Marlee and Carter woodwork’s story and Lucy and Aspen’s romance. It gives closure on what happened with Kris, Elise, and Natalie after The Selection was over and they lost.

This was not as good as the books in the series but I still enjoyed reading it. It seemed kind of like dessert—a nice final touch but not really necessary. I devoured the series and enjoyed it immensely so was glad when I discovered this book which gave me a little more.
(Karen's review, 3 stars)

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"The Fixer" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a YA contemporary fiction mystery about Tess Kendrick, a 16-yr-old who is taken by her older sister, Ivy, the "fixer."  Ivy left the ranch years before and works closely with the President of the United States in D.C. to fix problems.  Tess resents Ivy for not taking her along when their parents died so lives with her grandfather whose Alzheimer's gets worse,  When Ivy visits, she moves the grandfather to a care facility in Boston and has Tess live with her.  Ivy tries to protect Tess from getting involved in her job but Tess becomes involved in spite of Ivy's efforts.  Tess is shocked as secrets come to light and bravely seeks the truth.

This was very good with a combination of politics, murder and family relationships.  I enjoyed the plot and the characters and especially the surprise twist near the end.  I finished this in two days and looked forward to getting back to it.
(Karen's review, 5 stars)

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"The Edge of Everything" by Jeff Giles

In The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles, it has really been a bad year for 17-yr.-old Zoe.  Her dad died, an older couple who befriended her was killed, and now a blizzard has come and her young brother and her are in it and are being attacked.  Then a stranger comes out of nowhere and Zoe's life as she knows it will be forever changed.

This book had me from page 1!  The story is really good and I cared about the characters.  It went quick!  I really enjoyed it and feel it was well worth reading!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

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"Rules of the Game" by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton (series)

Rules of the Game by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton is the third and last book of "The Endgame" series.  I thought this one was the best of the three!  It is a non-stop thrill ride with action galore that kept me turning pages throughout the book!  I wish the ending could have been different, but that being said, I still give this book and this series 5 stars!  Glad I read it.
(Gerard's review)

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"The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss (1st Book in The Kingkiller Chronicle Series)

In The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, a man called Kvothe is telling his life story to a chronicler.  He has heard about Kvothe and wants to find out what is fact and what is fantasy.  This is the first of three books in this series.  This book covers his life until he is in his teens.  The stories in this book are really good!  It took me a while to get into it, but once I did, I had to keep flipping pages.  Not sure if this book is for everyone, but I enjoyed it!  It lived up to the hype for me.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

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"The Crown" by Kiera Cass (5th Book of The Selection Series)

I loved The Crown by Kiera Cass, the fifth book in The Selection series because Eadlyn grows up quickly when her mother has a heart attack and shows both maturity and compassion for others, finally!  This was a really fun series and I was not disappointed at all in this last book!  She picked the one I thought she should and I loved how she became so caring about the feelings of the selected.  I do not want to spoil anything because if you are reading this series, you have to read this one too!
(Karen's review, 5 stars)


I should have dressed up to do these videos--thought of it too late! 

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