Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: September 1, 2009
Format: Kindle
Pages: 391
Source: Purchase
Genre: YA Dystopian
Original Review Date: September 6, 2011
Rating: 4 bookmarks 

Synopsis:Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol - a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel in the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before...and surprising readers at every turn.

** spoiler alert ** This book was a easy read and the drama continues…a very good follow up to The Hunger Games. I jumped right into reading this book following The Hunger Games. 

Publisher: Soho Teen 
Release Date: October 29, 2013 
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Source: Soho Teen
Genre: YA Dystopian
Review Date: November 16, 2013
Rating: 3 bookmarks

Synopsis:  For fans of Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games: high fantasy and dystopia meet in this high-stakes tale of a civilization built on lies and the girl who single-handedly brings it down.

When Eva’s twin brother, Eamon, falls to his death just a few months before he is due to participate in The Testing, no one expects Eva to take his place. She’s a Maiden, slated for embroidery classes, curtseys, and soon a prestigious marriage befitting the daughter of an Aerie ruler. But Eva insists on honoring her brother by becoming a Testor. After all, she wouldn’t be the first Maiden to Test, just the first in 150 years.

Eva knows the Testing is no dance class. Gallant Testors train for their entire lives to search icy wastelands for Relics: artifacts of the corrupt civilization that existed before The Healing drowned the world. Out in the Boundary Lands, Eva must rely on every moment of the lightning-quick training she received from Lukas—her servant, a Boundary native, and her closest friend now that Eamon is gone.

But there are threats in The Testing beyond what Lukas could have prepared her for. And no one could have imagined the danger Eva unleashes when she discovers a Relic that shakes the Aerie to its core.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a courtesy in exchange for an honest review.

When I was asked if I would like to review this book I jumped at it.  The description and the cover art combined really pulled me in. I must admit, it wasn't a quick read at first. I found myself putting it down over and over again. But when I had a few hours to just sit down and focus on only reading it, I was able to get through it in one sitting.

Things started well enough, but the pace was a little slower than I'd like.  In all seriousness, the last 75 pages or so were the best part of the book. The story didn't really start getting really interesting until then.  I wanted to know what was going to happen to Eva, and what happened to her brother. I wanted to know what she would decide to do once her life changed.  Basically the would as she knew it wasn't really what it was at all.  Eva feels like she's hit with a ton of bricks with the understanding that just been taught a bit fat lie, they all have for 100+ years.  I wanted that turning point to happen earlier in the book some how.  I get the purpose cliff hangers, but we didn't get enough of the "good stuff" in this installment.

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: April 30, 2013
Format: Kindle
Pages: 446
Source: NetGalley, Courtesy of Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA Dystopian, YA Paranormal
Rating: 5 bookmarks


Synopsis: Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a galley courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This was a strong second installment to a very promising series. It was entertaining, fast paced, full of emotional highs and lows and certainly didn't disappoint.

The Eternity Cure picks up a few months after the end of The Immortal Rules.  Allie is having nightmares of her sire, Kanin being tortured by Sarrin, a vindictive and crazy vampire who wants to make him pay for his part in the creation of the rabids.  While searching for Kanin, she finds herself in Old DC, where Allie discovers she inadvertently tracked Jackal instead. She reluctantly agrees to work with him to find the cure for the rabids and in return Jackal will help her rescue Kanin.  

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Format: Kindle
Pages: 485
Source: NetGalley, Courtesy of Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA Dystopian, YA Paranormal
Rating: 5 bookmarks


Synopsis: To survive in a ruined world, she must embrace the darkness…

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred ofthem—the vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself dies and becomes one of the monsters.

Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend—a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what and who is worth dying for…again.

Enter Julie Kagawa's dark and twisted world as an unforgettable journey begins

Disclaimer: I received this book as a galley courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

I'm happy to report that I really enjoyed this book. The Immortal Rules is refreshing take on a YA vampire story.  Early on, this book reminded me of that Will Smith movie, I am Legend. It's the movie where he was one of the very few uninfected humans left in New York City after at plague changed people into some kind of creature that lurks in the dark and kills living people. Everything from how the rabids are described to the ruins of the cities and towns, those are the parts that remind me of that movie.   The major difference here is that the infected rabids were vampires, not human.  Beyond the state of the world and the rabids, the similarities end there.

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile/Penguin Audio
Release Date: November 1, 2011
Format: Audio MP3 by Unabridged
Pages: 367 (Hardcover) / Audio Length: Unknown (6+ hours)
Source: Library Borrow
Genre: YA Dystopian
Review Date: December 30, 2012
Rating: 2 bookmarks


Synopsis: In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky — taken by the Society to his certain death — only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake. 

Cassia’s quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander — who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia’s heart — change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever

I really wanted to like this book. Really.  I keep reading all the hype about the series and comments that the books improve as you read on, etc...But  in my opinion, this was not the case. This installment actually was worse than the first.  

Overall, the premise of the story was interesting, but the pace was unbelievably slow.  Seriously, I fell asleep too many times to count during this audio.....and that just doesn't happen to me! Thus I was constantly rewinding to re-listen to parts that I fell asleep on.

Publisher: Speak
Release Date: Reprint edition (September 20, 2011)
Format: Audio MP3 by Unabridged Audiobook: Unabridged edition (January 30, 2010) Pages: 400 (Paperback) / Audio Length: Unknown (6+ hours)
Source: Library Borrow
Genre: YA Dystopian
Review Date: December 3, 2012
Rating: 3 bookmarks

Book Synopsis: Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

I finished Match on Friday and it's taken me a few days to figure out what I wanted to say about this book. Let me first say that I expected more. A lot more.  I heard so much about this set of books, that I felt that the first installment fell short.  Possible I set the expectation too high. Maybe it was the narrator who sounded like a child....or maybe it was the story in general or a combo of both.   

This book is a perfect example of why when I pick up a new series or book recommendation I have to keep remind myself, don't believe the hype and go into it with no expectation at all. Maybe that way I won't be so disappointed.   I may have liked this more if I hadn't heard so many accolades about it.

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books; Har/Pstr C edition (October 30, 2012)
Release Date:  Originally released May 1, 2012
Format: Hardcover, Collectors Edition
Pages: 592
Source: Purchased
Genre: YA Dystopian
Review Date: November 26, 2012
Rating: 5 bookmarks

Book synopsis: One choice can transform you--or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.


Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable--and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Since I had just finished Divergent recently, I decided to go ahead and wait for the Collector's Edition. I wanted to read the Chapter from Four's point of view and since it was included for the same price, score! Plus there is some decent bonus material. And some swag-ish things that I will never use, nor remove from the book.