Book Review: The Merciless - Danielle Vega

The Merciless - Danielle Vega

Forgive us, Father, for we have sinned

Brooklyn Stevens sits in a pool of her own blood, tied up and gagged.  No one outside of these dank basement walls knows she's here.  No one can hear her scream.

Sofia Flores knows she shouldn't have gotten involved.  When she befriended Riley, Grace, and Alexis on her first day of school, she admired them, with their perfect hair and their good-girl ways.  They said they wanted to save Brooklyn.  They wanted to help her.  Sofia didn't realized they believed Brooklyn was possessed.

Now, Riley and the girls are performing an exorcism on Brooklyn--but their idea of an exorcism is closer to torture than salvation.  All Sofia wants is to get out of this house.  But there is no way out.  Sofia can't go against the other girls...unless she wants to be next...

In this chilling debut, Danielle Vega delivers blood-curdling suspense and terror on every page.  By the shockingly twisted end, readers will be faced with the most haunting question of all:  Is there evil in all of us?

2/5 stars (it was ok)

This story pretty much takes place in one night.  Riley and her friends trying to exorcise Brooklyn.  They do this by cutting her, torturing her and turning on each other.  I though the ending was pretty predictable and I thought more could have been done with Sofia and her past.

Book Review: Soundless - Richelle Mead

Soundless - Richelle Mead

For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining.  Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beigou, a mysterious faraway kingdom.

When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry.  Feir's home, the people she loves, and her entire existence is plunges into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation.

But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.

Richelle Mead takes readers on a triumphant journey from the peak of Fei's jagged mountain village to the valley of Beigou, where a startling truth and unlikely romance will change her life forever...

3/5 stars (liked it)

I was very much looking forward to a Richelle Mead book but this book was not as great as her other ones.  Although it was a nice change to read a stand alone book instead of a series.  This book is set in a very beautiful place, I very much imagines the beautiful mountain that Fei's village was set in.  Also her treacherous climb down to save her village.  Although the ending was very predictable.

Book Review: The Infinite Sea - Rick Yancey

The Infinite Sea - Rick Yancey

How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans?  Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible.  Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone.  As the 5th wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben and Ringer are forced to confront the Others' ultimate goal; the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven't see the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.

4/5 stars (really liked it)

Great follow-up to the first book.  I love how there is so much of Ringer in this book and we get to know her back story and what she had to go through to get to where she is.  We also learn a little bit more about the Others and why they are there and what their ultimate plan is.  I can't wait to see how this series will conclude.

Book Review: The Appearance of Annie van Sinderen - Katherine Howe

The Appearance of Annie van Sinderen - Katherine Howe

It's summertime in New York City, and aspiring filmmaker Wes Auckerman has just arrived to start his summer term at NYU.  While shooting a seance at a psychic's in the East Village, he meets a mysterious, intoxicatingly beautiful girl named Annie.

As they start spending time together, Wes finds himself falling for her, drawn to her rose petal lips and her entrancing glow.  But there's something about her that he can't put his finger on that makes him wonder about this intriguing hipster girl form the Village.  Why does she use strange slang?  Why does she always seem so reserved and distant?  And, most importantly, why does he only seem to run into her on one block near the Bowery?  Annie's hiding something, a dark secret from her past that may be the answer to all of Wes's questions...

3/4 stars (liked it)
We slowly learn Annie's story and what happened to her.  I really liked the character of Maddie and which she had been in the book a little more and we had learned more about her story.  Although I liked the character of Wes, I wasn't too attached to him.  I almost liked the minor characters more so than the major ones.  Overall a fast read and something spooky to read right before Halloween.

Book Review: The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains.  After the 2nd, only the luck escape.  And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive.  After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them.  The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see.  Who have scattered Earth's last survivors.  To stay alone is to stay alive,  Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker.  Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself.  But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death.  To give up or to get up.

4/5 stars (really liked it)

I love how this book was divided into sections and the sections were from different point of views.  We see how life is like for Cassie now after the 4th wave and what life was like before everything started.  We also see how her family was broken apart by everything.  I loved the story and the characters.  I can't wait to read the next one.

Book Review: The Accident Season - Moira Fowley-Doyle

The Accident Season - Moira Fowley-Doyle

It's the accident season, the same time every year.  Bones break, skin tears, bruises bloom.

The accident season has been party of seventeen-year-old Cara's life for as long as she can remember.  Towards the end of October, foreshadowed by the deaths of many relatives before them,  Cara's family becomes inexplicably accident-prone.  They banish knives to locked drawers, cover sharp table edges with padding, switch off electrical items - but injuries follow wherever they go, and the accident season becomes an ever-glowing obsession and fear.

But why are they so cursed?  And how can they break free?

3/5 stars (liked it)

This was a great book to read in October.  Had a little bit of a spooky factor.  I really liked all the twists and turn that kept me guessing.  I loved all the characters but I wish the mom had been in it a little more.  Overall a fast read.

Book Review: The Fate of Ten - Pittacus Lore

The Fate of Ten - Pittacus Lore

The sixth book in the thrilling, action-packed, New York Times bestselling I Am Number Four series!  For years the Garde have fought the Mogadorians in secret.  Now all of that has changed.  The invasion has begun.  If the Garde can't find a way to stop the Mogs, humanity will suffer the same fate as the Lorien:  annihilation.

There is still hope.  When the Elders sent the Garde to Earth, they had a plan--one which the Garde are finally starting to understand.  In the climax of The Revenge of Seven, a group of the Garde traveled to an ancient pyramid in Mexico known to their people as the Sanctuary.  There they awoke a power that had been hidden within our planet for generations.  Now this poer can save the world...or destroy it.  It will all depend on who wields it.

4/5 stars (really liked it)

Not enough of Nine and not enough of Lexa!  Other than that this book was great.  I love how we see John a little more vulnerable.  Also meet new characters such as Daniella.  I love that Adam is so accepted by the Lorien and that he helps out so much.  I like that we saw a little of Setrakus Ra's past and how he came to be the bad person he is.  I can't wait to read the next one because the ending of this book left me screaming "NO!".