The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

eARC received from Tor Teen via Netgalley

Release Date: 3-5-2013

Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn

The Sisters Say:  Ethereal, Gripping, and Dazzling

Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli's dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.

I have been looking forward to reading The Nightmare Affair ever since I read the blurb (months and months ago).  It was one of the coolest ideas I have ever heard—Dusty’s a nightmare!  A nightmare!  How cool is that?  I love the idea of taking something so abstract and turning it into embodiment of a person!  Mindee’s world is utterly hypnotic—filled with duplicitous magickind and twisted into the stuff of…forgive me, nightmares.  So, fantasy and magic fans, dive straight into this world!  But be careful, here there be monsters.

Mindee’s story jumps straight into the action from Chapter 1, which, if you know me, is exactly how I like them.  I understand that first books in a series need the world building, but at times it can get dense and boring.  But not with this one.  Each chapter brings a new mystery or a new revelation, and I couldn’t make my eyes read fast enough.  The action kept me intrigued while the characters captured my imagination.  I loved that Mindee was able to weave her world building into the action—and what a world it is.  There are all sorts of magical creatures living in one place, and I just love how this book portrays them.  You have sirens, vampires, demons, witches, mermaids—you name the paranormal creature, and it’s probably in this book.  It was neat seeing a book where you get to see multiple creatures, instead of just focusing on a few.

Dusty was such a great main character—feisty and fun, but at times, immature in her thinking and actions.  Normally, this would but me, but it just seems natural with Dusty.  I didn’t get annoyed with her rash decisions, and believe me, she did make quite a few.  It felt more like a rite of passage than just dumb mistakes.  I think some people might get annoyed with her jump-straight-in attitude, but it didn’t really bug me.  Now, I did think she was a little dense in the romance department, but that’s just me being biased because I like Eli.  Paul is sweet and he seems like a great guy for her, but I just didn’t like him.  Add that to the fact that the dream sessions with Eli are something that could definitely end in some great romancy scenes, and I just have high hopes that she’ll choose him.

So, obviously you know I’m a fan of Eli.  Now, don’t get me wrong, he is definitely not perfect.  He can be a big jerk at times, and like Dusty, he’s also dense at times when it comes to romance.   But he just seems so sincere, and again, I like the connection that Dusty has with him.  I would have liked to see a bit more alpha male in him, especially because he’s this big athlete and Mr. Popular from his last school.  But, I really didn’t see that.  We saw brief glimpses of jealousy and antagonism, but it wasn’t full blown.  I would like to see some possessiveness show out in him in the next book.

I really liked the minor characters, too.  You have Lance, who is this big jack***, but there is something about him that seems friendly, like if you manage to get past the goofy and jerky barrier, he could be an amazing friend.  I might be wrong about him, but I still like his character, and I look forward to seeing more of him in the future.  Then you have Selene, Dusty’s best friend.  She’s the “give me no excuses and I won’t kick you in the butt” type of girl, and I really like her sincerity and her protective side. 

The only complaint I really have is that some parts were predictable.  Not all of them were, there was a big twist at the end that I didn’t see coming; however, I did see a few of the other big twists.  This predictability didn’t keep me from enjoying the book, though.  I still enjoyed every aspect of it, and I can’t wait until the sequel.

Horned Demons

Contraband Magic

Smexy Dream Scenes

Duplicitous People

Dark Secrets

Add those all together and what do you have?  A nightmare worth dreaming.

Waiting on Wednesday: Replica by Jenna Black

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. It spotlights books that have not yet been released, but ones that you should pre-order today! This week's book that we are anxiously awaiting is REPLICA by Jenna Black.  REPLICA releases on July 16, 2013 from Tor Teen.

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Breathtaking new YA SF from the author of the Faeriewalker series

Sixteen-year-old Nadia Lake comes from a high-class Executive family in the Corporate States. Her marriage has been arranged with the most powerful family in her state, which means she lives a life of privilege but also of public scrutiny, followed everywhere by photographers, every detail of her private life tabloid fodder. But her future is assured, as long as she can maintain her flawless public image — no easy feat when your betrothed is a notorious playboy.

Nathan Hayes is the heir of Paxco — controller of the former state of New York, and creator of human replication technology, science that every state and every country in the world would kill to have. Though Nadia and Nate aren’t in love, they’ve grown up close, and they (and the world) are happy enough with their match.

Until Nate turns up dead, and as far as everyone knows, Nadia was the last person to see him alive.

When the new Nate wakes up in the replication tanks, he knows he must have died, but with a memory that only reaches to his last memory backup, he doesn’t know what killed him. Together, Nadia and Nate must discover what really happened without revealing the secrets that those who run their world would kill to protect.

 

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I've not read too many young adult sci-fi books, but this one just sounds completely intriguing to me.  The idea that they have clones that can take up their lives when they die is kind of creepy, but in a fascinating sort of way.  Plus, this Nate guy sounds naughty and nice!  I'm definitely thinking I should give sci-fi a try!

 

Blog Tour: Renegade by J.A. Souders: Review and Gavin Interview

 

Hey everyone!  Today we have the pleasure of hosting the Renegade Blog Tour!  I loved this book, and trust me, you should go preorder it today!!!

 

Check out my review below, and don't forget to see the awesome interview we did with Gavin, resident hottie!  And then make sure to enter the giveaway!!!!

 

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Renegade by J.A. Souders

ARC received from Tor/Forge

Release Date:  11-13-2012

Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn

The Sisters Say:  Hypnotizing., Harrowing and Hot.

Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. Her memories have been altered. Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.

“My life is just about perfect.”  ARC, pg. 11

Tantalizingly creepy and lusciously seductive, J.A. Souder’s Renegade pulls back the veil to reveal how desperation, violence, and insanity can alter the fabric of society.  J.A. creates a world rife with delusion, where truth has been obliterated, love has been tainted, and justice has been eradicated.  Dive into the trenches of Elysium, but be careful, for there are more dangerous creatures than sharks in these treacherous waters.

I Loved Renegade! 

From Chapter 1, I was hooked!  This book wastes no time getting straight into the action, which is great because I get annoyed when there is too much backstory at the beginning.  Right away, we see evidence of Evelyn’s mind control.  She is constantly repeating phrases and the things she says sounds very preachy and awkward.  I found it so intriguing to read about how this mind control worked, and I really enjoyed how this book jumped straight into the psychological thriller territory!  It was unique and not something you see in YA.

I found the similarities between Elysium and Nazi Germany captivating.  When I taught 8^th grade Literature, I always did an entire until on the Nazi’s, and I would have loved for my students to be able to read this and draw parallels between the two societies.  Both have a leader obsessed with the purity of race who will stop at nothing to achieve perfection.  Mother was eerie and dark and maniacal, and J.A. Souder’s wrote her madness amazingly well. 

What about the characters?

Evie was a testament in contradictions---strong yet weak, loving yet hateful, and submissive yet revolutionary.  What’s interesting is that she is a somewhat unreliable narrator because her mind has been manipulated, so I was kept on the edge of my seat wondering when and if she was going to snap.  She has flashes of memories throughout the novel, but who’s to say these memories weren’t altered or created to fit Mother’s needs?  She was unpredictable and flighty, and I really enjoyed not knowing where she was going to end up—or with who.  She was just as likely to become the villain as she was to become the hero---and I LOVED that she walked this line.

And

Then

There’s

Gavin.

Oh, Mr. Surface Dweller, you can couple with me any time you want!  (insert giggle)  J.A. described him perfectly—so chiseled that you could see the lines of his muscles when he moved.  Plus the tan and the golden hair and the gray eyes.  Yummy yum yum!  Plus, he’s smart, and he is able to figure out what is going on with Evie quickly, which makes him even more hot!  I’ll tell you, if I were ever to be under mind control, I would definitely want Gavin to come to my rescue!  Add to all that his protectiveness and willingness to die for Evie and you get the perfect hero!  (Plus, I imagine his as Chris Hemsworth….drool). 

J.A. knows how to write a villain.  Mother was a monster.  Her words were dripping with venom, her actions riddled with madness, and her smile was laced with seduction.  She was manipulative and intelligent---a puppet master to an entire society.  And oh did she pull their strings.  The world Mother created was terrifying.  Perfect and peaceful from the inside, but when you take a step out of her control and look back, you see it for what it truly is—macabre and sinister.  I liked that J.A. didn’t hold back with the gruesomeness of the world; it was creepy, but in a great way.

Renegade was one of my favorites of 2012!  I loved how J.A. created a dystopian society masquerading as the perfect world.  But, get a few chapters in, and that mask will begin to deteriorate until the ugly truth is revealed.  Horrifying and entrancing, Elysium will ensnare you and then catapult you into a game of cat and mouse, where reality is manipulated, hearts are betrayed, and death just might be welcome.  But then again, your life might be “just about perfect.”

“How can you even know who you are, if you can’t remember who you’ve been?”  ARC, pg 87

 

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And Now the Interview with Gavin!

(insert fangirl squeal)

Hi Gavin!  Thanks so much for dropping by the YA Sisterhood!  We’ve been looking forward to talking to you!

Thanks for inviting me!

Can you tell us something about you that we don’t learn in Renegade?

Well, I guess the biggest thing is I’m not really a people person.  Even when I’m with my family, as much as I love them, I’d rather be alone and with my own thoughts. I learned the hard way (after my dad’s death.) that having/making/keeping friends isn’t worth the price you have to pay for them.

What did you think when you first met Evelyn?

Besides “wow?”  I didn’t really know what to think of her.  She was pretty and everything, and she seemed like she wanted to help me, but after what I went through, well, seeing was believing, I suppose. But honestly, my first thought was, “Wow!” And my second was, “I wonder if she’s with anyone.”  Then was: “Oh s*(%, I’ll bet she’s here to kill me.”

What is Elysium like?

At first glance, it’s really beautiful.  There’s so many windows! And they’re all crystal clear and show a perfect view of the ocean. It’s a gorgeous blue with so many schools of colorfish.  But once you get over the beauty, it’s downright creepy. The lighting sucks!  And there’s nothing but shadows everywhere and you always feel like you’re being watched.  <shudder>

 

Before we let you go, we’d love for you to answer a few this and that questions!

Truth or Dare?  Dare. I don’t trust anyone enough to tell the truth.

Trick or Treat?  Treat? I guess.

Fight or Flight?  Fight, of course. Unless I can’t fight my way out of it, then I’ll run like hell.

Boxers or Briefs? Err…isn’t that a bit…er…personal?

Salt or Pepper?  Salt! It makes the meat last longer.

Kiss or Cuddle? Er…both? Can I say both?

Love or War?  Love is better, but war is inevitable.

Summer or Winter?  Neither. Summer is too friggin’ hot and there’s no game in winter.

 

Thanks so much for dropping by Gavin!  We hope to see you again!

 

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LINKS:

http://jasouders.com/ (Website)

http://jasouders.com/blog/ (Blog)

https://www.facebook.com/JASouders (Facebook)

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4880398.J_A_Souders (Goodreads)

http://twitter.com/jasouders (Twitter)

BUY:

http://www.amazon.com/Renegade-Elysium-Chronicles-J-A-Souders/dp/0765332450/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350339958&sr=8-1&keywords=renegade+j+a+souders (Amazon)

 

http://www.bookdepository.com/Renegade-JA-Souders/9780765332455 (the Book Depository)

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Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

ARC received by Tor Teen via ALA

Release Date:  On Shelves Now

Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn

The Sisters Say: A gritty tale of ghosts and gore

It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.


Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.


Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

“This place is the thing behind madness.  There is nothing good here.  Off the map.  If you eat frustration it chokes you.  This place exists in the wake of a scream.”  ARC, pg. 286

Grotesque and gorgeous, Kendare’s writing will drag you, kicking and screaming, into a world of ghouls and goblins; a world where evil lurks inside the shadows and death is only the beginning.  She will plunge you head first into her hell, and if you make your way out, there will be blood on your hands.  Kendare knows horror, and she doesn’t hold back—so prepare yourself for the ride of your life.

If you’ve read my review of Anna, then you know that I don’t do horror stories.  Nope.  Never.  You can paint a sign that says “Big wuss,” and point it at me, and I won’t take offense.  Because it’s the truth!  But, I took a chance on Anna, and I am so glad I did.  I loved her story, from the first meeting in the Victorian house all the way to hell.  Anna, in all her splendid gore, swept me away.  So, naturally, I went straight for the sequel, and I’m so glad I did!

While I didn’t like it as much as the first book (and I’ll explain why later), I still found myself loving this world.  I love how the world of the living and the world of the dead coexist side by side, like spoons in a drawer.  You can’t touch one without disturbing the other.  Cas understands this, but he is still willing to go to hell and back to save Anna.  And that is why I love him so much!

In GoN, you can see bits and pieces of Cas start to flake away as he falls deeper into despair over Anna.  He keeps seeing horrible visions of her, and all he wants to do is save her, like she saved him.  But, in order to do that, he must put the lives of himself and his friends in the crosshairs.  Cas is such a great hero, and I loved going on this quest with him.

And of course, you couldn’t have a great story without the Scooby gang—Thomas and Carmel.  We see Thomas break out of his mold in this book, coming to grips with his power, and learning to harness it for good.  Yet, he was still the same bashful, quirky guy that is such great comic relief.  I will admit, I got frustrated at times with Carmel in this book because I felt she was being selfish.  Now I completely understand her decisions, but I felt like she flaked when she should have been stronger.

Kendare’s writing was brilliant.  There were no loose ends, and no times when I felt like something was off.  Once I entered her world, I was caught up in it, and I could not put the book down.  I just had to know how it all ended!  I love Kendare’s writing style—I’ll call it grotesque poetry.  She knows exactly when the story needs a splash of blood and exactly when it needs a sympathetic word.  Have you ever read a quote and felt the need to close your eyes and just think on it because it was just so great?  I found myself doing that quite often (ex 1:  the quote I started the review with).  I’ll say it again, her writing style is brilliant.  BRILLIANT!

Okay…so, why did I like the first book better?  One word:  Anna.  This was the first series where my favorite character was the girl mc.  Usually, I love the guy and focus on him.  But, with this book, Anna was the star, and I was disappointed that she didn’t play a bigger role in this novel.  I wanted more scenes with her—even if they were gory because she made the passion and the fear and the danger come to life. 

I also had a slight disappointment with the ending.  It was a good ending, and I understanding why it had to end that way, but a part of me wanted something different.  I won’t tell you anything more; you’ll have to read for yourself!

So, I’ll leave you with a few more of my favorite quotes from the book:

“’We don’t have a choice,’ Thomas says.  ‘The clock ticks.  Caution’s become a luxury.” Pg 218

“But even now I feel the lake over my shoulder, sitting still and sinister as the yawning jaws of a trap.  I must prefer Superior, with her waves and rages.  She doesn’t keep her violence a secret.”  Pg 219  

“She crossed over death to call me.  I crossed through Hell to find her.”  Pg 326

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Published by Tor Teen

On Shelves Now

Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn

The Sisters Say:  Sinister and Superb, A sucker-punch to awaken the world of YA!

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story... (don't you just love that...hehehe)

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

One of our honorary sisters reviewed this over a year ago, but I loved it so much I wanted to share my thoughts, too!  Plus, since Girl of Nightmares just came out, many people are just now reading Anna!

So, I’ve been staring at this book for months now trying to work up the courage to read it.  And when  say months, I mean, at least six—but I always psyched myself and decided it was probably too scary for me.  So, when I finally picked this up to read, it was a big deal to me.  I mean a BIG DEAL!  Further explanation?  I don’t do horror.  Whenever I think I’m kick butt enough to watch a horror movie, I end up sleeping with EVERY light on for at least a week.  In fact, when I watched Silent Hill…that week turned into almost a month.  I don’t do scary.  So, I started reading Anna, completely sure that I would spend my nights lying flat on my back…with dozens of pillows surrounding me….with all the lights on….and with my glasses perched on my nose all night (just in case I heard and noise and needed to quickly scan the room)….and with a bat hiding snuggly under the bed (if I could brave myself enough to look under the bed).  AND?  Pleasant surprise!  Anna was amazing—scary at times, but not so much to warrant an all-night watch-for-the-unworldly-athon. 

The best thing about this book—it was the FIRST BOOK EVER where I liked the female main character better than the guy.  This is a big deal!  Big!  I’m usually swept away by the good boy with charming good looks and sweet smile, or fall head over heels for the bad boy whose arrogance rivals only a Greek god’s.  But, with this one, I immediately fell on the side of Team Anna.  She was so awesome!  The way Kendare described her was chilling, and her words wrenched me from the recliner and thrust me straight into that old Victorian where I felt like I was staring the “dark goddess” in the eyes.  Full of power and darkness, yet ridden with innocence and guilt; Anna was the kind of bad guy that you just can’t help root for.

Now that doesn’t mean I didn’t like Cas, I really enjoyed him, also.  Tough and arrogant, and completely at home in the other world, Cas will definitely leave you breathless at moments.  Cas has been left with the duty of sending murderous ghosts back where they belong, but there is a part of him that wonders about his destiny.  He struggles with everything he doesn’t know about the world on the other side.  I loved watching his journey of truth, and by the end of the book, though his journey is far from over, I felt like Cas had grown from a boy exacting revenge to a man seeking discover the truth about his powers.

Kendare did an amazing job creating the personalities of the minor characters, also.  You have 2 sidekicks in this Scooby gang—the quiet, nerdy boy with witchy powers (like Velma, only a dude), and the beautiful, always gets her way popular chick (we’ll call her the modern day Daphne).  Together with Cas and Anna, these two will provide the much needed comic relief from the terror of the book.

And what about the story itself?

It was full of twists and turns that (although some you could see coming), kept me on the edge of my seat.  The imagery was at times beautiful and poetic, while at other times, sinister and macabre.  There were definite gory parts, but surprisingly, they didn’t bother me.  In fact, they added to the sorrow of the story.  I mean, this is a horror story, but most of the time I either felt an unwavering sadness at how evil had caught so many in its net, and at other times, I was in awe—of the way Kendare put so much power into play.  Her world will melt from the page and come alive around you, and there will be times when you will wish it could stay that way!

Okay…so I will leave you with a few statements that you need to remember!

1.) This books is Ah-mazing!

2.) If you are scared to read this book, don’t be!  It’s worth the fear!

3.) Anna is freaking unbelievably awesome! 

4.) YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!

5.) My review of Girl of Nightmares (Book 2) will be up soon.  Although I didn’t like it as much as this one, it was still great.

6)….AND…AGAIN….You must read this book!