Blood Rose Rebellion

Blood Rose Rebellion

by Rosalyn Eves

Access to magic equals access to power. 

Anna can't access magic so she can't access power. 

But even without access to magic, Anna seems to be able to mess up everyone else's magic. 

After ruining her older sister's coming out party and accidentally destroying all of the magic in the room, Anna leaves for Hungary to try and save her family's name and to get away from the danger her lack of magic presents for them.

But running away to Hungary does more to put Anna at the front of the magic rebellion than to hide her from it. She's being watched. She's being hunted. And she's being courted by people who want free access to all magic.

Her talent, or apparent lack of it, may be the one thing that opens up the binding that regulates magic and frees the people to be able to access it no matter what their family names may be.

Final thoughts: Messy. This one was just messy from start to finish. There were a couple of ideas that had promise, but the extended metaphor was forced and shoved down the throats of the readers. I feel no need to read the next two in the planned trilogy and I feel bad for those who read the back cover and think this will be any good.

Rating: 2/5

ARC provided by NetGalley

H2O

H2O

by Virginia Bergin

 

On a hot day in England, people all go outside to hang out with friends and try to cool down. When the rain comes, they are happy to see it.

Until it starts falling on them.

Previously the giver of life, this new rain is a killer... literally.

A bacterium that had been hidden in an asteroid that was destroyed before it could hit the earth has finally reached the atmosphere. It loves water. It thrives in water. And it's raining down on every human on earth.

As the bodies of the people she knew start falling along with the bodies of all of the strangers around her, Ruby manages to survive. She's running out of food and she can't trust the water to drink it, so she's also running out of options.

Now Ruby has to figure out where to go, how to get there, and who to trust on the way.

Final thoughts: This book had some great moments, but that's really what it was; it was a series of moments. Ruby is not very likeable and she never seems to learn. She keeps making the same mistakes over and over. She keeps making the same poor choices over and over. How she manages to live as long as she does is completely coincidental and senseless. Maybe the next book will be better, but I'm not sure if I'll rush out to read it.

Rating: 3/5

Shooter

Shooter

by Caroline Pignat

 

Locked in the boys' restroom, five students hide from a possible shooter at their high school.

Each student has a different story.

Each student has a different problem.

Each student has a connection.

One of them may know who is dangerous.

One of them may be able to stop the shooter.

One of them may be running out of time.

All of them need to work together to survive.

Final thoughts: Tight read that starts slowly and builds in tension and timing. This is not just about a school shooting; this is about people and how they are connected even when they think they aren't. This about high school and all of the nuances in the relationships between everyone within.

Rating: 4/5

Songs About a Girl

Songs About a Girl

by Chris Russell

Charlie Bloom has never been popular. She's never even dreamed of being in the popular crowd because she knows how far away from that life she is. As long as she can live behind the lens of her camera, she's happy.

When she gets the email from a former schoolmate, a boy who is now world famous in the boy band Fire&Lights, she is suddenly thrust into the popular world. He wants her to take pictures of the band backstage to have them uploaded to their website.

Charlie knows that it's crazy a life that the boys live, but she's not ready for the crazy that is lead singer Gabriel West. She's also not ready for the moment when she realizes that the words of his songs are also the words from her mother's journals. And when she's thrust from anonymity into the spotlight, can she handle her new life?

Final thoughts: This was the book that I kept putting down. I finished it eventually, but I wasn't really impressed. The last chapter also took me from a single book to a semi-cliffhanger into a series that I didn't know I was reading. It's ok if you like this kind of book, but I just didn't really feel it.

Rating: 3/5

If I wake

If I Wake

by Nikki Moyes

Each year, on her birthday, Lucy goes into a coma. While her mother and her doctors search for a reason for her annual comas, Lucy goes on an adventure through time.

On her first trip, she's with a tribe of early humans, helping them to survive and even teaching them how to make a bow and arrow. When she dies protecting her friend, she wakes up in the hospital, covered with rashes where she was attacked before she died in her past.

Each time after, she meets the same boy with the same family around him. She realizes that her job in all of these lives is to keep that boy alive. She saves him each year with each trip in time.

In the present time, she is bullied constantly. Her life at home isn't great, but her life at school is horrible. She's running out of time for herself. Lucy simply doesn't believe that there is reason to go on, especially when her last birthday may mean one more chance to save the boy she cares for.

Final thoughts: Decent read. I wasn't fully drawn in to her world and the first time trip was a little shocking, especially because I still can't understand how it was so easy for her to just live in that world with little to know confusion on her part. That first trip, she just started living there as if she'd always been there. The final time trip was odd and the aftermath of that last trip felt forced and didn't quite work for me, but it was OK overall.

Rating: 3/5

The Adventures of Katie Button

The Adventures of Katie Button

by Lizzie Koch

 
Katie's been having the weirdest dreams. In her dreams, she is always with the same man, but always in a different period of time. Her man is a highwayman one dream and a royal the next. She's always head over heels in love, but something always goes tragically wrong. In her dreams, either she or her man nearly always die.

When Katie meets James, she's astonished because he's literally the man of her dreams. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to recognize her. He also doesn't seem to have the same pull on her heart. His brother though... he's definitely someone she can spend some time with.

Will her dreams rule her heart?

Final thoughts: Eh. Just eh. OK to kill some time, but not really worth it. Some of the logic of past lives makes no sense and even the author can't really explain away the fact that two of those lives were only 5 years apart (Titanic and WWI). Her concert dream makes no sense and her reaction makes even less sense. So... eh.

Rating: 2/5