Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Publication Date: October 6, 2015

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: eARC from Netgalley

Pages: 336

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Summary (from Goodreads):

Sixteen-year-old heiress and paparazzi darling Liddi Jantzen hates the spotlight. But as the only daughter in the most powerful tech family in the galaxy, it's hard to escape it. So when a group of men show up at her house uninvited, she assumes it's just the usual media-grubs. That is, until shots are fired.

Liddi escapes, only to be pulled into an interplanetary conspiracy more complex than she ever could have imagined. Her older brothers have been caught as well, trapped in the conduits between the planets. And when their captor implants a device in Liddi's vocal cords to monitor her speech, their lives are in her hands: One word and her brothers are dead.

Desperate to save her family from a desolate future, Liddi travels to another world, where she meets the one person who might have the skills to help her bring her eight brothers home-a handsome dignitary named Tiav. But without her voice, Liddi must use every bit of her strength and wit to convince Tiav that her mission is true. With the tenuous balance of the planets deeply intertwined with her brothers' survival, just how much is Liddi willing to sacrifice to bring them back?

Haunting and mesmerizing, this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen'sThe Wild Swans strings the heart of the classic with a stunning, imaginative world as a star-crossed family fights for survival in this companion to Stitching Snow.

I was really impressed with this book! After the last 3 books I read left me feeling rather 'meh', I just kinda dove into this book without any expectations. But it really surprised me and I enjoyed it!

Liddi Jantzen is the youngest of nine children. She has eight older brothers, all of whom are very gifted technologists on their planet. Liddi is set to inherit and take over the tech company that her parents started as soon as she turns eighteen. When Minali, the woman in charge of the company until she can inherit it, traps her brothers in the conduit system (the means of interplanetary travel) and makes it so she can't speak to tell anyone or her brothers will die, she manages to escape through a portal to Ferrine, a point that no one believed really existed. She has about 45 days (I think) to figure out a way to rescue her brothers without being able to tell these strange new people what is going on.

I thought that Liddi was an awesome main character. She was smart. A lot smarter than she ever gave herself credit for in this book due to some false information about checked genes from Minali. Her older brothers are really all that she has. Her parents have died and she doesn't really have any friends that aren't just looking to boost up their own social standing by being associated with her. So when she ends up unable to speak, she has to figure out a way all on her own to rescue her brothers. She finds that to be a daunting task because of her lack of confidence in her intelligence. But she is brilliant. She doesn't give up, no matter what it seems she ends up having to do. I really enjoyed Liddi.

Tiav is the first person Liddi meets when she ends up on Ferrine. He is very patient. He takes time to try and figure Liddi out. Decipher what she is trying to ask or say and learn about her without her being able to tell him anything. He sticks up for her when one of the alien races on Ferrine kind of gangs up on her. Even though his best friend is of that alien mob. He was just really sweet.

I enjoyed the romance. I felt like they really kind of got each other. They worked well together, cared about each other. There wasn't any insta love. They got to know each other as best as you can get to know each other when one party can't speak. I like them together a lot.

I thought that this was an exceptional book. It never felt boring. The action picked up right away and never slowed down too much. I never felt like one part of this book was terribly slow. There was always something interesting going on. The ending felt maybe a bit anticlimactic, just cause I felt like there should have been more of a showdown at the end. This book made me a bit sad at the end, but I just loved this book so much.

I don't really have any kind of complaint about this book, but one thing that I noticed was that this book felt really similar to These Broken Stars. Like even the names.. Liddi - Lilac, Tiav - Tarver. But I liked this book a lot more than I liked These Broken Stars!

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. If you liked These Broken Stars, I think you'll like this book! The more I think about this book, the more I think that when it comes out, I will definitely have to buy this one for my own collection when it comes out!

Crushing on Kai - Celebrity Crushes

In the book Cinder by Marissa Meyer, a sci-fi fairytale retelling of Cinderella, everybody’s biggest celebrity crush seems to be Prince Kai of the Eastern Commonwealth. So for my first bonus post for the #TLCreadalong, I’m going to share my own celebrity crushes!

1. Jude Law

Okay. Jude Law at any age is particularly easy on the eyes, but young Jude Law, specifically I am thinking of him in the movie Enemy at the Gates, is SO EASILY my number one. Ugh, so attractive.

2. Bob Morley

Gotta love me some Bellamy Blake! I can't wait to watch season 2 of The 100 to check this guy out again!

3. Patrick Stump

He's not the most attractive guy out there and he's kinda short, but I LOVE HIS VOICE ENOUGH TO LAND HIM ON THE LIST!

BONUS CRUSHES!!

Jesse McCartney is the first celebrity crush I can ever remember having. I was a big fan of his little boy band, Dream Street. I was a weird kid, I remember being in elementary school and writing his name on the sleeve of my sweater and printing out pictures of him to have in a binder (this was a weird kid binder, I took like a million of those stupid online quizzes and I printed out ALL of the results and put them in this binder as well). He is still a very good looking guy!

Jennifer Lawrence is my #1 celebrity girl crush. I just think she's so fantastic and an amazing actress and I have been told by TWO different people that I kind of look like her and THAT, my friends, is one of the highest compliments I can think of.

Share with me your celebrity crushes!! :)

Waiting on Wednesday (#11)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting on...

Violent Ends by Shaun David Hutchinson, Kendare Blake, Steve Brezenoff, Delilah S. Dawson, Trish Doller, Margie Gelbwasser, E.M. Kokie, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Tom Leveen, Hannah Moskowitz, Elisa Nader, Beth Revis, Mindi Scott, Neal Shusterman, Brandon Shusterman, Courtney Summers, Blythe Woolston, and Christine Johnson

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publication Date: September 1, 2015

Pages: 384

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Summary (from Goodreads):

It took only twenty-two minutes for Kirby Matheson to exit his car, march onto school grounds, enter the gymnasium, and open fire, killing six and injuring five others. 

But this isn't a story about the shooting itself. This isn't about recounting that one unforgettable day.

This is about Kirby and how one boy—who had friends, enjoyed reading, played saxophone in the band, and had never been in trouble before—became a monster capable of entering his school with a loaded gun and firing on his classmates.

Each chapter is told from a different victim's viewpoint, giving insight into who Kirby was and who he'd become. Some are sweet, some are dark; some are seemingly unrelated, about fights or first kisses or late-night parties. 

This is a book of perspectives—with one character and one event drawing them all together—from the minds of some of YA's most recognizable names.

What are you waiting on this week?

Top Ten Tuesday (#9)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created by The Broke and the Bookish!

This week's topic is Top Ten Books That Would Be On Your Syllabus If You Taught Sci-Fi 101!!

These are the books that I would include!!

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

3. Divergent by Veronica Roth

4. Delirium by Lauren Oliver

5. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

6. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

7. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

8. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

9. Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis

10. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Review: What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

Publisher: Harper Teen

Publication Date: September 22, 2015

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: ARC from @miss_print

Pages: 336

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Summary (from Goodreads):

Kate Weston can piece together most of the bash at John Doone’s house: shots with Stacey Stallard, Ben Cody taking her keys and getting her home early—the feeling that maybe he’s becoming more than just the guy she’s known since they were kids.

But when a picture of Stacey passed out over Deacon Mills’s shoulder appears online the next morning, Kate suspects she doesn’t have all the details. When Stacey levels charges against four of Kate’s classmates, the whole town erupts into controversy. Facts that can’t be ignored begin to surface, and every answer Kate finds leads back to the same question: Where was Ben when a terrible crime was committed?

This story—inspired by real events—from debut novelist Aaron Hartzler takes an unflinching look at silence as a form of complicity. It’s a book about the high stakes of speaking up, and the razor thin line between guilt and innocence that so often gets blurred, one hundred and forty characters at a time.

Earlier this year, I read All The Rage by Courtney Summers. If you liked that book, you will probably like this book. It is about the same subject matter, but from a different point of view. It always feels so wrong to me to say that I enjoyed books like this, but it just really made me angry! Not at the book, but at what happens in it! This is a subject that I actually feel very strongly about.

One weekend, one of the star basketball players in a small town called Coral Sands in Iowa holds a party at his house while his parents are away. There was lots of drinking and the main character, Kate Weston, gets driven home fairly early by her soon-to-be boyfriend, Ben Cody. The next morning, she can't remember much about the party, but there are lots of pictures and statuses on social media about it, but she doesn't look too closely at them. 

A few days later, the cops come to their school and arrest four varsity basketball players a week before the championship. They are accused of sexual assault and child pornography of a girl named Stacey Stallard. The town and the school seem to rally behind the basketball players. They don't believe that they did anything wrong and that the girl probably just made some poor decisions and regretted it the next day.

The principal and the basketball coach try to cover things up for their precious basketball players. Kate's friends have varying opinions on the events. Her friend Rachel is really religious and believes that Stacey got what was coming to her because she didn't follow 'the rules'. Her friend Christy just thinks that boys will be boys. Her friend Lindsey feels the same way that she does. That this is totally wrong. Kate can't stop thinking about it. Stacey used to be her friend and doesn't deserve all the awful names and the derision that is coming with this. Supposedly there is a video going around of what happened. Kate finds it and what she sees just makes her sick.

Kate has everything going for her. She has an attractive varsity basketball player boyfriend who is on the fast track to a good college. She's smart. She's a great soccer player. She is a good person. She can't believe that Stacey is just lying. She wants to understand what happened to the girl that used to be her friend. She digs for the truth and does what she can to help.

Really, the only other main character is Ben. He seems to have everything going for him too, but he's kind of a coward.

I hate the way the people dealt with this. Everyone thinks it's so unfair that these four boys are being slandered and that their lives and basketball careers could be ruined because this girl dared to speak out that she was assaulted. They probably could have gotten away with it if they weren't so stupid as to take pictures and video and put it all over the internet. What an awful way for that poor girl to figure out what happened to her. People say that she was asking for it because she had been drinking too much and wearing a short skirt. Makes me sick.

If you liked All The Rage or like books that make you feel things, read this one when it comes out! Highly recommend!