"The Midnight Star" by Marie Lu

The Midnight Star by Marie Lu is the final book in The Young Elites series. Adelina aka "The White Wolf" is now the queen.  She takes care of people who get in her way.  But now she finds out that she has to make a deal with her enemy or else!

Marie Lu shows that she does not have to take a back seat to anyone.  This book had loads of action and the ending had plenty of twists and turns.  I LOVED IT!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

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"Crooked Kingdom" by Leigh Bardugo has Tons of Action

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo is the follow-up to Six of Crows.  This book picks up where Six of Crows left off.  I was into it from page 1.  It was so good to be back with Kaz and the gang as they make up plans to out-wit their enemy!  There is tons of action in this book as they get in and out of trouble and always remain one step ahead.

I LOVED IT!  I am happy the author got it done in two books, but would love more!  This is my new "book of the month"!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

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"A Torch Against the Night" by Sabaa Tahir is as Good as the First in This Series!

After reading An Ember in the Ashes, I went right into the next book--A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir and loved it too.  In this one, Helene's point of view is added in the telling of the story and it is exciting right from the start.  Much of the book is Elias and Laia on the run with Helene and her three black guards chasing after them but the author has a way of having things happening in different places at the same time and making great use of cliff hangers at the end of the chapters to keep your interest.  There are some sad parts and the characters did some things I didn't like or understand; however, it did make for a good story.  I really like Helene who is put through the ringer in this book. 

This book has some surprises and again, some tight situations where. I felt I was on a roller coaster with all the ups and downs in this book.  It moved a bit slow at the beginning, but the last third of the book made up for it!  I had to take a break after several of the chapters to let things sink in and then go right back to it to see what would happen next. I look forward to reading the rest of this series!   
(Karen's review, 5 stars)

A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir is the follow-up to Ember in the Ashes.  Usually I have trouble getting into book Twos because it was so long since I read book 1, but not so with this one.  I was into it from page 1!  It was so good to re-connect with Laia and Elias!  Both are wonderful characters.  This book flows very well and I was surprised more than once.  A lot happens in this which made it just as good as book 1, if not better.  I LOVED it!
(Gerard's review 10/5/16, 5++ stars)

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"Obsession" by Karen Robards is Quite the Page Turner!

Obsession by Karen Robards begins with a mystery right off the bat and is filled with action, mystery and suspense throughout. This is a book about an FBI investigation against the head of the CIA whose personal assistant, Katherine, is caught up in the middle and in great danger throughout the book. Katherine doesn’t know who to trust and finds herself in several life and death situations. This novel is full of betrayal, suspense, mystery and action with a bit of humor and romance.

This book kept me guessing all through, but at least I picked the right person that Katherine should trust, well, sort of. This has a wild plot and interesting characters. I especially liked Katherine’s cat, Muffy! Loved the ending! The one explicit sex scene I could do without, but other than that, I liked this contemporary thriller which is a page turner I recommend to anyone who enjoys a good mystery and unusual plots.
(Karen's review, 5 stars)

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"The House of Secrets" by Brad Meltzer

In The House of Secrets by Brad Meltzer and Tod Goldberg, Hazel Nash was 6 years old when her dad told her mysteries must be found. Now Hazel’s dad is dead. Died in a car accident that Hazel and her brother were in also. Hazel now knows nothing of her past and she wants to find answers. I listened to this audio book and enjoyed it. The story moved along well and Hazel was a great character. I liked the great twist at the end that I did not see coming at all.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

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"Fallen Land" by Taylor Brown

Fallen Land by Taylor Brown takes place during the last year of the Civil War.  Due to the war, a young boy, Callum, and a young girl, Ava, band together with a horse named Reiver.  Bounty hunters are after Callum and will stop at nothing to find him. 

I enjoyed the relationship between Callum and Ava, two great characters.  The horse was awesome!  This book has action and a great ending!   My wife thought it started off too slow and gave up on it early on, but I liked it!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

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"Brutal Youth" by Anthony Breznican

Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican centers on St. Michael's, a school that now accepts questionable students and highly religious students which is not a good mix.  There is lots of bullying going on.  I really enjoyed the character of Father Mercedes and Sister Maria.  I thought Brutal Youth has good action and it held my interest throughout.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

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"Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas is a Must Read if you like Fantasy! (UPDATED)

We both liked this one! 
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas is a mix of fantasy, mystery, competition, relationships, survival, royalty and friendship. Celaena, a famous teen assassin, who was betrayed and worked in a death camp as a slave in salt mines is chosen by Prince Dorien to participate in a contest that could give her freedom. If she wins, she would have to serve the king as his Champion assassin for four years and then she would be free. Celaena is brave, confident, determined, skilled, snarky and feisty. She is housed in the castle and finds a secret passage into tunnels that lead her to trouble!

I am so glad I read this book and look forward to continuing in the series! The characters are interesting and I really like Celaena, Nehemia, Chaol—captain of the guard and Prince Dorien. I didn’t dislike Cain until well into the book but disliked Kaltain and Duke Pellington right from the start. This book kept my interest from start to finish and I found myself chuckling and cheering. I would have preferred the final duel to be a clean fight but I still liked the ending. Nor did I care for the otherworld stuff; however, the action, Celaena and her relationships with Chaol, Dorien, Nehemia and Kaltain more than made up for it. This is a really good story I recommend to anyone who enjoys a bit of fantasy.
(Karen's review, 4 stars because I hear the next book in this series is even better!)


Gerard's review:

Throne of Glass is a YA novel about a young girl named Celaena.  She has been trained to be an assassin and is "the best."  Unfortunately for her, she is captured and put in a death camp.  However, when the king decides that he wants his own assassin to work for him, he runs a contest.  His son frees Celaena to enter the contest and maybe a chance to be free IF she wins.

This is an outstanding read; I LOVED IT!   Celaena is a great character and I was quickly on her side!  This has plenty of action and the other characters are really interesting too.  It almost goes without saying that the story line is superb!  This is a MUST READ and I will be reading the next book in this series soon.  This is going to be hard to beat for my "book of the month"--it's fantastic!
(Gerard's review 7/3/15, 5++ stars)

Here is a video of Gerard and me discussing this book on our front porch:

See our Crown of Midnight review and discussion video.

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Happy Reading!

"The 100 Homecoming" by Kass Morgan

The 100 Homecoming by Kass Morgan is a teen book that is the third of a series.  I think it was a mistake to read this one first because I didn’t feel a connection with any of the characters.  I focused on three couples:  Wells and Sasha, Bellamy and Clarke, and Luke and Glass.  The 100 were juvenile delinquents that were sent back to earth to see if they could survive.  Not too long after they arrived, more colonists from the planet in outer space made a crash landing.  Many were killed but some lived and were brought into The 100’s camp.  On earth, there were friendly Earthborns and dangerous Earthborns. 

This was okay but I was glad to get to the end and move on to something else.  It was about courage, love, friendship and survival with the groups fighting against each other along the way to provide some excitement.  I would recommend you read the series in order though and not read this book until you have read the first two.  There is a TV show about this book, but I haven't watched it so can't really compare the book to it.

(Karen's review, 3 stars)

 

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"RUN" by Andrew Grant

Marc Bowman is a sought after consultant and a software designer who has a job at a major tech company that his wife works at too.  Life is good.  Monday comes and he is surprised when he is let go, but that turns out to be the least of his problems.

RUN by Andrew Grant is a wild ride!  Marc finds trouble at every turn and things go from bad to worse!  I loved the action in this book and it is full of surprises!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

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"Survivors--Storm of dogs" by Erin Hunter

Survivors--Storm of Dogs by Erin Hunter is about a group of dogs called the "Wild Pack."  They live a good happy life and they all have their role to play to help the pack.  They live in fear of another pack of dogs called "The Fierce Dogs" who are killers.

This is a fantastic read!  The writing is very well done and the interaction between the dogs in the Wild Pack is really good.  It's a page turner and I enjoyed the action in it very much as well as the ending!  I certainly plan to read more by this author!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

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"Red Queen" by Victoria Aveyard is an Exciting, Fun Read! (UPDATED)

We both Loved this one!

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is a YA novel about a young girl named Mare.  She is a "Red" who lives in a world that is controlled by the "Silvers."  One day Mare is captured and it turns out that she has powers that a Red is not supposed to have.  The Silvers quickly take her under their wing so that this is not discovered by the world. Mare wants to help her people, the Reds, even though it puts her in danger. 

 WOW!  This book has tons of action with lots of twists that I did not see coming.  LOVED it a lot!  Will read book 2 for sure.  This is my new book of the month!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars) 

 Karen's review:
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is an interesting cloak and dagger fantasy about humans with silver blood and super powers (Silvers) ruling over poor, down-trodden humans with red blood and no super powers (Reds).  Some Reds band together, calling themselves “The Red Guard” to try to change things for the better.  Mara is a Red, but is different.  She is an excellent pick pocket who discovers, by accident, that she has a super power in spite of her red blood. 

It’s not often I hate to see a book end, but with this one, I did!  I enjoyed this book with action, brother rivalry, lying and betrayal very much.  I liked the main character and couldn’t help pulling for her despite all odds.  I was disappointed to see this is just the first book of a series.  Now I have to wait for the next book to come out.  This book is similar to Cinderella and Divergent is some ways.  If you like adventure, fantasy and interesting relationships, I highly recommend Red Queen.  

(Karen's review 3-18-15, 5 stars)

 

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"Hush" by Karen Robards has Action, Suspense and Romance--We Both Loved It!

Hush by Karen Robards is an exciting read that I didn't want to put down.  George, Riley's ex-father-in-law, scammed lots of people, including some very dangerous men, out of a lot of money.  George is arrested but the money is missing.  He says it's all gone but the FBI, CIA and the other people he scammed do not believe him.  Also, the guys who worked with George want to get it too.  Riley has four near-death experiences because she knows where the money is but Finn manages to protect her.

This is an excellent novel filled with suspense, action, lies and a developing hot romance.  I really enjoyed the cat and mouse game Riley and Finn played with each other throughout the book.  The author did a great job mixing suspense and romance for a great read!  I'll be looking up more of her books for sure.
(Karen's review, 5 stars)

Gerard's review, 5++ stars):
This novel tells the story of Riley.  Her ex-husband is dead by what looks like a suicide, but Riley believes he was murdered.  His billionaire father concocted a financial fraud and is in jail, but the money he was able to get is out there somewhere and everyone wants it!  Riley is in great danger and the CIA has assigned agent Finn to recover the money.  Can Riley trust Finn and what secret is Riley keeping?  This is a really great book with good action which kept me turning pages.  I LOVED IT!

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Hidden Agenda" by Lisa Harris is both Suspenseful and Action-Packed!

Hidden Agenda by Lisa Harris is about Michael, an undercover cop whose cover is blown and is scheduled to be killed but is rescued by the son (Ivan) and daughter (Olivia) of the man who wants him dead.  They barely escape from the island and then are on the run for pretty much the rest of the book!  Ivan is deaf but good with computers and pretty smart but his older sister, Olivia, a reporter, feels responsible for keeping him safe.

This is a good read with a lot of suspense and action that kept my interest.  The relationships are all interesting too.  It deals with family relationships, secrets, betrayal, fear and romance between an unlikely couple from two different worlds. 
(Karen's review, 5 stars)

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"Watching You" by Michael Robotham is Action Packed with Twists and Turns

Watching You by Michael Robotham is about a woman named Marnie.  She has a feeling that she is being watched.  Her husband takes off and she has no clue where he is.  When she finds a surprise birthday gift that her husband had planned for her, this book takes off.  It is action packed and filled with twists and turns.
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

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"Think Twice" by Lisa Scottoline is a Doozy We Both Likded! (Updated)

Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline is about identical twin girls, but other than looks, they are very different!  When the one twin does unspeakable acts to the other, this novel takes off!  Think Twice is really good with plenty of action and a great ending.  
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars) 

Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline is full of unbelievable cruelty from Bennie Rosato’s identical twin, Alice, who was raised in foster care and made a mess of her life.  Bennie is a successful attorney who owns her own firm but when she accepts a dinner invitation from Alice, she wakes up in a box buried alive!  Alice goes on to impersonate her twin and take over her life in the hopes of getting a new start.  It’s hard to believe anyone could really be this cruel, and I even wonder how authors can think up this stuff.  The book has plenty of action including gun play, chase scenes and even some sweetness tossed in for good measure.  I found myself thinking, “Oh, wow!” over and over as Alice continued to be a real piece of work in making her sister’s life miserable.

Although Think Twice isn’t realistic at all, I enjoyed reading it because I wanted to see Alice get caught—she was so bad!  I really liked Bennie’s boyfriend, Grady, and her co-worker, Judy, but thought the psychic cousin made this seem more like fantasy than real life.  The ending was pretty good with a bit of a surprise thrown in which I liked!    This book showed me how important it is to keep any written passwords away from my computer—I’m going to move mine!
(Karen's review, 5 stars) 

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