Poor Roman!! Seriously, if Ruthie Knox isn't on your autobuy list, you are missing out!

Full review to come!

Defy by Sara Larson is one of those books that snuck up on me. Until I saw it on Netgalley I honestly hadn’t heard a lot about it but I have to say, I was glad I jumped at the chance to read this one as it falls into one of my favorite genres, high fantasy. On top of all of that, it has a great story and some of my new favorite characters. I will spoiler tag most of this so I don’t ruin anything for anyone but be warned if you continue reading…I may not be able to help myself.

Spoiler

Alexa Hollen is exactly as described, a fighter. She and her twin brother, Marcel, survive the destruction of their village and death of their parents but make the decision to “hide” Alexa’s true identity to keep her out of King Hector’s breeding house. To that end, Marcel chops off her hair and she becomes Alex.

Three years later, both Alex and Marcel are a part of the Prince’s Guard. Their responsibility is to protect Prince Damian at all costs and they both take their roles seriously. Because of this, they are both considered some of the best guards but Alex stands out as the best and if not for her age, would have been Captain of the Guard.

I love that Alex/Alexa is such a smart and strong character. She’s also at the age where she is beginning to notice the guys around her. Obviously they don’t know that she is a girl so she would never do anything but she is definitely beginning to notice some around her – specifically Prince Damian and Rylan. The thing that separates these two guys, aside from status, is the fact that Alexa really likes Rylan and he is her friend. On the other hand, based on what she knows about Damian, Alexa doesn't really like him. She believes him to be spoiled and lazy. She is definitely surprised when she starts to learn more about him.

I will say, the description calls out that there is a love triangle but honestly it didn't bother me. It might be because once Alexa made her choice, there really was no question so for me, I didn't feel like it pulled me out of the story.

There is a lot of action in this story. From sword fights to protecting Damian, Alex/Alexa definitely doesn't get much downtime. While protecting Damian, a sorcerer sneaks into the castle and attacks. While definitely a strong fighter, she isn't strong enough to stop the sorcerer and ultimately Alex, Damian, and Rylan are kidnapped. As she is held with both Rylan and Damian, Alexa finds that her secret wasn't really a secret from these two and on top of that, they have been keeping things from her.

I thought Larson did a wonderful job of building the world these characters live in as well as pulling me into both the good and bad situations. There is a lot of death in this book and to main characters but all of these moments helped to move the story along as well as in some cases, give the characters purpose.

Here is where I will take a moment to reflect on how swoony both Damian and Rylan are. Both of them knew that Alex was really Alexa but kept her secret and for their own reasons waited to tell her they knew. I won’t include a lot of quotes from these guys but I’m not at all ashamed to say that the majority of the highlights for me in this one were of these two interacting with Alexa and telling her (finally) about their feelings.

From Damian:
“Thank you,” he said softly as I stared up at him once more.

“For what?”

“For saving me – and I don’t just mean from that arrow.” He smiled, a soft, wistful smile. “It’s always been you, you know that, right? From the first moment I realized you were a girl – it was always you.”

From Rylan:
“Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep pretending, to bury how I really felt, knowing I’d never be able to do anything about it without endangering you? And now I finally have a chance to treat you the way you deserve – to cherish you the way a woman should be when a man loves her. And all you can do is stare at the prince.”



See???? Both of them are swoony and I don’t envy her having to make a decision.

From a bad guy perspective, they really are bad. Iker and King Hector definitely have issues and to honest, I wasn't really sure what Iker’s motivation was other than to be an evil sorcerer but the whole idea of the breeding house just made me mad/sad/angry and I completely understood Alexa’s reaction to it.

Alright, back to the story. A lot goes down and quite a few secrets are revealed once the kidnapping happens. I’m not going to go into the detail here but quite a few things come out about Damian that make Alexa think twice about whether she can trust him. He definitely has his reasons and I don’t disagree with him at all considering some of the things he had to deal with. I actually liked how he handled everything in the end and am interested in seeing how things change for him.

I absolutely loved this one and couldn't put it down. I am patiently waiting for the next book….it comes out soon, right?? But in all seriousness, I am hoping to understand more about Alexa’s parents and what really happened there as well as see where things go for these characters as there is more to come for all of them, no question. This will be on my “to buy” list when it comes out in January and I absolutely recommend you check this out as soon as you can. With great characters, a wonderful story, magic, fighting and swoony boys, it has easily become one of my favorite reads this year.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scholastic for the review copy!

Awww he winked at her.

The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings is one of those books that has continuous action, solid world building and an interesting premise. If you enjoy a good dystopian I suggest you pick this one up. I won’t give anything away in this review because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone but trust me when I say there are some twists that will keep you turning the pages just to see what happens next.

Spoiler

Meadow is fifteen…turning sixteen and lives in the Shallows. Unfortunately her mother was killed a number of years ago, so it is only her older brother, little sister and their father living on a boat. For most of her life, Meadow’s father has tried to teach her to survive....he is definitely not the hugs and kisses type dad. Instead, he has trained her to kill and to survive and it is a good thing because once some of the secrets about her mother come out, Meadow definitely needs those skills.

I liked Meadow. She is tough and knows how to take care of herself but when she needed to be soft, she could be…mostly with her little sister Peri. She knows it is inevitable but Meadow hopes Peri never has to become like her. She also really loves her family and would do whatever she needs to in order to keep them safe and/or help them.

The Initiative basically runs the Shallows and the Leeches are the enforcers who report directly to the commander of the Initiative. As a sixteen year old, Meadow now has the opportunity to take a placement test and if she survives, get a job to help support her family. Ultimately this is what leads her to meet Zephyr James. There is a lot of detail around the pins that every person has imbedded in their skin as well as the barcodes tattooed onto their foreheads. There are rules to follow and consequences if you don't.

Um…first let me say, I loved him and thought his chapters were great. He has a distinctive voice and it includes humor which I always enjoy. There is something different about Zephyr that isn’t necessarily clear immediately. It is clear that he is struggling with who he is and what he has done. The one thing that does stand out for him is Meadow. At first he doesn’t really know her but has seen her in his mind. As he sees her in reality he is clearly drawn to her and wants her to know him.

Once these two meet, the story is non-stop action. From trying to find out what the Initiative is up to, what is going on with Zephyr, where Meadow’s family is and how to stop the Motherboard, these two end up doing whatever they can to survive and hopefully accomplish everything they have set out to do. Along the way they definitely have some hurdles to overcome but they start to trust and care for each other as well as realize just what the Initiative, and those who have helped them along the way, have done to these two.

There are a number of secondary characters that play pivotal roles and I thought they helped move the story along. Talan is one that specifically stands out for me mostly because of her relationship with Zephyr but also because of her anger and attitude toward the Initiative. I also liked Koi and Peri and the relationship they had with Meadow.

Overall this was a solid book one by a debut author. I thought Cummings did a wonderful job of building the world these characters live in as well as giving us a backstory for these characters which she reveals throughout the whole book. The alternating points of view were great and added more to the story had it only been from Meadow’s point of view.

I look forward to book two in this series as I still have a lot of questions and I can’t lie, there is a bit of a shocker ending…not shocker that you won’t see it coming but shocker in that I just don’t know what the heck is going to happen next. For sure check this one out when you can if you enjoy a fast paced story with a lot of action and some solid characters.

OMG - I need Ignite me right now.

3.5 stars. Review to come.

I would probably rate this 3.5 if I could.

Contributor takes the reader into the life of Dara Marrow. As a seventeen year old, Dara is now being evaluated as an engineer and by performing well; she is selected to join a specialized apprentice program with two others to compete for the position of Assistant to the Head of Engineering. This is ultimately what Dara has been working her whole life for and being chosen is exactly what she was hoping for. Dara is assigned to work with Contributor D’Angelo (Letizia) and immediately dives into her training. Along the way, Dara’s competition for the assistant role become pretty cutthroat and after her mother has an accident and can no longer contribute, Dara begins to question everything she was ever taught.

One of things I wish we would have had a deeper dive into is the whole background of the dome and the class system. I thought the class segments were interesting and the explanation of how they aligned to society but what was confusing to me was how it all came to be. I wanted to know more about the different Creators and how things ultimately got to the situation where people were only valued if they were contributing to the success of the Creator.

Dara is definitely smart and as her relationship with Contributor D’Angelo changes, she begins to learn more about the Creator and even more about the things outside the dome. I thought Ciacchella did a great job developing her as well as the relationship between Dara and Contributor D’Angelo. By experiencing the shift in Dara’s beliefs, I was able to see just how much of a gap there was between her and Jonathan and although he was there for her when she needed him to be, she was smart to recognize that neither of them were going to be able to change their opinion, no matter how much they cared for each other.

I do wish we would have gotten more background around Mal. While he was just a peripheral character initially, he truly became someone that would ultimately hold Dara’s life in his hands. I’m still not sure what his background is and hope book two goes into more detail about who he really is. Additionally, I would have liked a bit more detail around how Letizia came to be involved with Raj, Mal, and Tasha. It felt a bit glossed over and other than saying they had different beliefs than those in the dome, I didn’t completely understand how they came to know each other.

Overall I thought this was a great introduction to Dara’s world. Even with the items I mentioned above, I thought that Ciacchella did a good job developing the main characters. The story was continually moving and had me turning the pages to see what was going to happen next. This was a solid book one and I am definitely looking forward to seeing what happens in book two and how much more Dara’s world will change.

Thank you to Netgalley & Sweenix Rising Books for the review copy.

Yay!! Theo and Festos finally go on a date. Loved this peek into the date as well as a bit of a glimpse of what happens with Sophie after My Date From Hell ended. Can't wait for the next one!

Weaver has an interesting premise that I thought showed a lot of promise but for a number of reasons, I just didn’t find myself as invested in this story or characters.

The idea behind this book is definitely one that is typically right up my alley. Alex Cronlord is starting her sophomore year of high school and all of a sudden she is having some crazy dreams. Specifically about a boy who ends up killing her. Imagine her surprise when she encounters that same boy on her first day of school and is inexplicably drawn to him. Fast forward a few days and sure enough, her dream (nightmare) comes true…the boy (Lucien) tries to kill her and Alex’s best friend Tyler comes through and ends up being the reason she survives.

Along the way, Alex finds out her mother is a part of a secret society that happens to have children for the purpose of developing them into Weavers (those that can see the future) or Igniters (those that can start fires) in order to defeat the Xorda – a race of soul suckers who have come to Earth.

The pacing on this book was off for me. Everything was moving super quick with no explanation. I wanted to better understand who and what the Xorda were and why they were around. Also, Alex seemed pretty adaptable (good for her) but I found it odd that when she and Tyler thought they killed Lucien there was minimal reaction. Yeah, she ran through the woods and couldn’t believe it but once she got home, her biggest concern was what her mom was going to think when she showed up with dirt and blood on her. I think I would have expected a slightly larger meltdown considering not two days prior she was a normal fifteen year old.

The characters are usually what makes me love a book. In this case, because the pacing was so fast, I found myself unable to really become invested in Alex and her story. Additionally, I get why Moira’s story was important to the overall story but it felt a bit off from the background story to the forced nature of her relationship with Andy.

The story itself is interesting and somewhat original. This is the first book in a series and if you find yourself interested in this story, definitely check it out. It is fast paced and has an interesting premise. I will be interesting to see where Abramowitz goes with Alex and the continuation of her story.

Review to come.