Under Pressure

Hana is a novella from Lauren Oliver's Delirium universe.  The story centers around Hana, Lena's best friend, during the summer before her cure.  It takes place at the same time that Lena and Alex's story during Delirium.

Hana is feeling suffocated by all the pressures by her up coming Cure and her match to the Mayor's son.  She has decided to live her life to the fullest by going to all the underground parties she can before her Cure date.

She experiences the life of the party, the rhythm of the music, and even her first kiss during her summer.  Although she feels that Lena is drifting further away from. At the party that was raid, Hana believes she has made a grave mistake in her lifestyle choice, and goes to apologize for her mistakes to Lena, only to find that Lena has a secret of her own.

Hana is a complicated girl.  On one hand she wants to freedom, and a taste of the forbidden, but she also tries to be the good girl and has accepted her fate as being Cured.  She, also, has quite the jealous streak which manifest the more time she spends with Lena and Alex.

The revelation at the end left quite the impression.  It will be interesting to see how that will play into Requiem's story.  I hear that Requiem is a switch between Lena and Hana, so this is a must read before Requiem.

Currently Reading:
Spell Bound
by Rachel Hawkins

Or Evil Twins

Echo by Alyson Noel is the second book in her Soul Seekers series.  It is set in the small town of Enchantment, New Mexico.  A town that is pretty depressing due to be run by the Ritchers, a clan of Coyotes who are dark magick.

Daire is the Seeker, a person charged with keeping the balance of the good and evil.  She and her boyfriend, Dace, have been busy trying to restore the Lowerworld since the events of the Day of the Dead when Cade, Dace's very evil twin, restored his dead ancestors. During their time working together, Daire and Dace become closer, and their love growing.

When they finally declare their love to each other, the learn a horrifying truth, Cade is able to gain power as their love grows stronger since he is Dace's Echo.  Daire and Dace vow to keep their distance, while each figures out a way to stop Cade.

To be honest, this book not only dragged a lot, and generally got on my nerves.  Daire and Dace are so sure that each other their plans to kill Cade is right, but neither seems to be able to get it together.  And all the whiny angst about loving each other, but being able to think about it got old real quick.  Seriously, for two people who vowed to stay apart, they found themselves together an awful lot.

The idea that true love making pure evil stronger just does not sit well with me.  Maybe I spent way too much time watching Disney movies, but I am a believer in true love conquering all.  

The way this book dragged, and was so full of whiny angst, I am not sure if I want to read the rest of the series.  

Currently Reading:

Hana

by Lauren Oliver

All You Need is Love

Pandemonium is the second book in Lauren Oliver's Delirium trilogy.  It takes place in a dystopian society where love, aka deliria, is a disease.  Everyone must undergo the cure at 18, and those who are not cured are called Invalids.  At the end of Delirium, Lena and Alex attempt to escape into the Wilds so they will be free to love each other.  Lena makes it, but Alex does not.  The setting for this book goes back and forth between when Lena first arrives in the Wilds "then," and her working for the resistance in NYC "now."

In the "then," chapters, Lena struggles to find her place within the group in the Wilds.  She is very weak to begin with after her flight from Portland.  She slowly learns their ways, and how difficult things are for them.  All the while, she is trying to get over her loss of Alex.  She learns to cope, and to push the heartbreak away as time goes on.  Here we meet Raven, while only slightly older than Lena, is the leader of the group.  She teaches Lena much about pushing away her grief and moving on with her life.

In the "now" chapters, Lena has moved into NYC, and is working with the resistance there.  She has adapted a new identity and is gathering intellegence on the Deliria-Free America  (DFA) group.  It is here that she meets Julian Fineman, the DFA's leader's son and the poster child for wanting the cure.  At a rally she is assigned to always keep her eyes on Julian. When the Scavengers attack and Julian escapes into the tunnels, she follows and along with Julian is taken prisoner by the Scavengers.  During their time together, Lena learns that Julian is not as passionate about having the cure as he appears, and that his motives for wanting it are not what she expected.  Julian learns that not all those without the cure are the same, and that love is not the dirty word he has been taut.

I am not too sure that I am a fan of this back and forth of Lena's timeline.  I almost wish that Ms. Oliver had done the "then" chapters, and then the "now" chapters in chronologically order.  I felt that it dragged at times during the "then" chapters, but I did understand the need for those chapters.  They explained Lena and Raven's personalities better.

The "now" chapters, on the other hand, were pretty fast paced.  You learn that there is more at work than what Lena knows is happening as you progress through them.  The resistance is much bigger, and more  complicated than I first thought as the chapters go on.  Plus you get a couple of surprise characters at the end.

Overall a worthy follow-up to Delirium, and it will be interesting to see where the last book goes with what happened at the end of Pandemonium.

Currently Reading:
Echo
by Alyson Noel

Demons need Love, Too

Demonglass is the second book in Rachel Hawkins' Hex Hall series.  It picks up about six months after the events of Hex Hall.

At the end of Hex Hall, Sophie sends a letter to the Prodigium Council, which is headed by her father whom she has never met, requesting to have her powers removed.  Six months later, her father finally shows up, and request that Sophie spend the summer with him in England before she makes the final decision to go through with the Removal.  Sophie agrees as long as she can bring Jenna with her, and her dad tells her that Cal will be coming too, and oh by the way, your betrothed to him.

Once in England, Sophie and friends are taken to Thorne Manor, where she meets the rest of the council,  and surprise, surprise, two demon teens.  She learns that the council is in limbo with the recent Eye attacks, and the alliance between the Eye and the Brannicks.

After a disastrous night in a London nightclub, Sophie gets serious about learning how to control her powers. Did I mention that Archer showed up and saved her at that club?  Her archenemy with the Eye, but who she still might have a major crush.  And oh yeah, Elodie's ghost seems to be hanging around her, and trying to communicate with her, something a ghost should not be doing.

Sophie and her Dad must figure out who is raising demons before it all the citizens of Prodigium become targets in a full out war between the them and the Eye.

I really like the character of Sophie and the progression she has made since the first book.  She is doing a better job of thinking her decisions through, and going to those more experienced than her for advice.  It is interesting to see the relationship between her and her dad grow,  and where she got some of her traits from.

Ms. Hawkins wrote in some really great plot twist, and some classic betrayals.  She did a great job of keeping me guess on who was doing what until the reveal moments.    The secret about Sophie's mom at the end is a dozy, just to warn you.

Currently Reading:
Pandemonium
by Lauren Oliver

Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Whimey

Timepiece is the second book in the Hourglass series by Myra McEntire.  In this book, Ms. McEntire switches her narrator.  This time around is it Kaleb, instead of Emerson.

Kaleb has had a rough year.  First his father is killed in an explosion, then his mother goes into a coma, and then his father comes back from the dead.  Just because his best friends, Micheal and Emerson just happen to be able to manipulate time. He is working on coping with all of it, mainly with alcohol.

He is at the town Halloween party, when he sees the hot girl as a tiger, too bad his plan to pick her up does not go well.  Then everything really goes to hell when Jack Landers shows back up, and then the mysterious Poe.  Poe, who takes Emerson hostage and threatens them that they must find Jack by Halloween or there will be consequences.

Jack, Micheal, and Emerson are in a rush to flush out Jack.  They turn to Emerson best friend, Lily, who just happens to be tiger girl from the party. Lily has a special ability that allows her to find things, and may be the key to finding Jack and restoring the balance of the time continuum.

Kaleb must learn to use his abilities, and deal with his new feelings for Lily in order to save everything he loves.

I loved Kaleb in the first book, Hourglass.  He is the classic bad boy on the outside, but there is nobody who feels more deeply than him, especially with his empathy gift.  He is a little of a drag at first while he is still moaning over Micheal and Emerson being together.  It does get better once he realizes he loves Emerson more as a sister than as a girlfriend.  He and Lily make a wonderful complement to each other because she is so genuine that he is never hurt by her words being a lie to her feelings.

Lily is pretty awesome in her own right.  Imagine never losing anything ever again, how convenient it must be for Lily.  Plus her Cuban attitude is pretty freaking amazing, just like many Cubans I know (Gisell, J. Maines, and Laura)!

I really enjoy the concept of time continuum issues. Time being a fluid flow of things that can change instead of a linear concepts, very Doctor Who of Ms. McEntire.  In fact, she has had Doctor Who references in both books so far, which as a Whovian myself, gives her bonus points in my eyes.

With the ending in this book, it will be interesting to see where she takes the next book, and who gets to be the narrator of it.

Currently Reading:
Demonglass
by Rachel Hawkins

Post-Apocalypse, Love it!

Endless Knight by Kresley Cole is the second book in the Arcana Chronicles.  Set in a post-apocalyptic world, where 22 teens representing the Arcana Major of the Tarot cards compete for immortality.

Endless Knight picks up right where Poison Princess ended with Evie's killing of Arthur, the Hermit Card.  Jack, Matthew, Finn, and Selena witness her in all her Empress glory.  And much to Evie's dismay, Jack is horrified by her actions.  Although she doesn't have much time to dwell on it because the Bagman attack them, and the militia is moving in, so they have to get out of Requiem.

On there run from the Bagman, Jack is avoiding Evie, but he is slowly coming to terms with her powers.  When he finally accepts everything and he and Evie are making up, they fall right into the cannibal's trap.  The cannibals are lead by Gutherie, the Hierophant card.  As they are running from the cannibals, they meet up with Lark, the Strength card, who tries to help them escape.

All this time, Death continues to plague Evie's thoughts.  He wants vengeance on her, and yet, seems jealous of her and Jack's relationship.  Too bad Evie has no idea why he is that way with her.

Death takes Evie from her allies, and brings her back to his home.  Evie learns much about Death, and slowly learns about their past from previous games.  She must sort out her feelings for Jack and Death, and find a way to stop the games madness.

I absolutely love the concept of these books, and the way the Ms. Cole writes them.  I really like the fact that in Poison Princess, you got to see Evie's life and the world become the apocalypse.

Evie is a fantastic character.  She is loyal to her friends, and is trying so hard not to be like the past Empresses.  She wants to be a good person, and struggles with her Arcana kills, even if the two she killed were pretty horrible cards.  I can understand her struggle over her feelings for Jack and Death.

Jack, who I already loved from Poison Princess, only becomes more awesome.  His fierce protectiveness of Evie, even after he know she is very powerful, is wonderful.  Then you have Death, who as the book progress, you can't help to like him more and more.  There is a aching loneliness to him that you can't help but to feel for him.

And the ending, I can't believe I have wait like a year for another book!  Oh, and then there is the hint that there is still a Major Arcana that has not been awakened.  It leaves me with so questions many and so theories.

Since there are a lot of Arcana to keep up with I am adding a picture of their cards, and who has been revealed so far, their calls, and who has not lived.

  

The World: Tess "Trapped in the palm of my hand"
Judgement: Gabriel "I watch you like a hawk"
The Moon: Selena "Behold the Bringer of doubt"
The Star: Dead
The Tower: Joules "Eyes to the sky, lads, I strike from above"
The Devil: Ogen "I'll make a feast of your bones"-Dead
Temperance: Calanthe "Crush you with the weight of sins"-Dead
Death
Justice: Spite- Dead
Strength:Lark "Red of tooth and claw"
The Hermit: Arthur "A wise man in the guise of a boy..."- Dead
The Lovers: Vincent and Violet "We will love you. In our own way."
The Hierophant: Gutherie "We go now to our bloody business"-Dead
The Empress- Evie "Come touch...but you will pay a price."
The Magician: Finn "Don't look at this hand, look at that one."
The Fool: Matthew "Crazy like a fox"

Currently Reading:
Timepiece
by Myra McEntire

Or Courtiers

Grave Mercy is the first book in Robin LaFevers' His Fair Assassin series.  A series about girls, who are Death's daughters, trained by the covenant of St. Mortain which still serves the gods of old to be assassins.

Ismae is born with a scar on her back from the poison her mother took to try to abort the pregnancy.  The scar and the fact she lived is evidence she is a daughter of Death, a god of old.  At fourteen, her "father" sells her off into marriage, but that quickly turns sour when her new husband sees her scar.  She is rescued by the local herbwitch and hedge priest who take her to the covenant of St. Mortain.

Once she passes the Mother Superior's test, she is started on her training to become an assassin to Death's will.  At the covenant, she meets her first real friends, Annith and Sybella.  At seventeen, she is sent on her first assignment, but on her second assignment she runs into the problem of Duval.

Duval is the most trusted adviser to Brittany's duchess, and with Ismae encounter with him, the mother superior and the Chancellor are unsure if he can be trusted.  Duval, himself, is quite angry with all them, because they have foiled his plan to question the traitor.

A complicated scheme is worked out, and Ismae is sent with Duval to court as a spy for mother superior and as Death's handmaiden.  Ismae soon learns not everything is what it seems, and she just might be in over her head.  She must learn to think for herself, and along the way she is falling in love with Duval.  And just maybe the will of men is not the will of Death.

Who knew that nuns as trained assassins could be such a fabulous book. This book has just about everything you could possibly want, mystery, action, adventure, and romance. Ms. LaFevers does a fantastic job of keeping you guess who is scheming what, and who is the biggest traitor. Her story has wonderful twist and turns to it, without being unbelievable.

Her characters are not the classic beauties, but you fall in love with them all the same.  Ismae has a harsh past and is devoted to her calling.  It is interesting to watch her grow as a character, from a blind devotee of the commands handed down by her covenant to someone who no longer sees the world in black and white, but with shades of grey.  Despite being trained assassin, she still has a very big heart as seen in her interactions with Annith and Sybella, and later with Anne and Isabeau.

Duval is a wonderfully complicated character.  From his devotion and love for Anne and Isabeau, to the animosity between him and his mother. He is a master of strategy, and with the intelligence he possess, it is no wonder that his enemies are afraid of him.

The slow courtship between him and Ismae is beautiful.  I am so glad it is not another love at first sight YA books.  I like it when they take the time to get to know each other, and that is what brings about their feelings for each other.

I am excited that the next book in the series is about Sybella.  I can already tell that she is going to be a complicated, damaged, but wonderful character to get to know better.

If you haven't started this series, yet, I highly recommend picking this one up.

Currently Reading:
Endless Knight
by Kresley Cole