Review: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson

Before I Go To Sleep
by S.J. Watson


Published June 14th 2011 by Harper

'As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I'm still a child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me ...' Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love - all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may only be telling you half the story. Welcome to Christine's life.

Genre: Adult, Mystery

Publication Date: July 1st 2011

Publisher: Random House

Format: Pocket book, 428 pages 

Series: no

Source: bought

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My Review

Christine wakes up every single day not knowing where she is nor who the man lying beside her is. Neither does she know why she is much older than she remembers being.

Everyday her husband needs to introduce himself and explain to her that she is 47 years old, that she's had an accident many years ago, an accident that causes daily memory losses. She can maintain new memories for only 24 hours. As soon as she sleeps, it all becomes lost to her. And Christine has to take his word, this stranger man who calls himself her husband, for it. 

She's impossibly confused, so when a man calls her saying he is her doctor and that they have been meeting for weeks concerning a new treatment for her memory loss, and that she needs to trust him and not tell her husband about it, she's not sure she should trust him. But this man knows to tell her to look into a shoe box hidden inside her closet to find a diary. A diary, he says, she herself has been keeping. A diary that tells very different things from what her husband and, sometimes, even said doctor, tells her.

Now Christine has to decide who to believe in. The mysterious doctor? The loving, but confusing husband? Or the woman who writes in her diary everyday? Can she believe in all she has been writing? Who can you trust in when you can't even trust yourself?

I was so caught up in reading this book that my whole afternoon just flew by. It was like I blinked and the 384 pages were over. 

Christine was felt scared, confused, mad, distrustful, aroused, guilty, anxious, in pain... and I felt all those things right along with her.

I can't very well explain how... how... SATISFIED and GLAD and FURIOUS and INDIGNANT I was when it finally hit me. (I can't say what it is that 'hit me', otherwise the mystery will no longer be a mystery. But I CAN say it was awesome).

It's not that the ending was especially creative or unexpected or anything (and can anything even really be 100% creative nowadays?). It was just very well-thought-of. And simply splendidly delivered. (I'm all adjective and adverb-y today. Must be Dash's fault. ;P).

The whole book was super intense and intriguing. Staggering. Startling. And... okay, enough with the adjective attack. If you didn't get it by now... then don't even bother reading. No,  no. Read it anyway. It's that good. 

And there you have it. It's the (almost) perfect love crime. Go read it. Right now.

Review: Partials (Partials #1) by Dan Wells

Partials (Partials #1)

by Dan Wells

Published: February 28th 2012 by Balzer + Bray

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic in training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws threaten to launch what’s left of humanity into civil war, and she’s not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will discover that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

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My Review

It is the year of 2076. Sixteen-year-old Kira Walker works gathering data from dead human babies in order to help researchers find a cure for the deadly virus RM that killed most of the human race during the Break.

The Senate controls everything and everyone and has approved the Hope Act, which makes it obligatory for every fertile female to start breeding from the age of eighteen. They hope that the more babies are born, the bigger the chances one of them will survive longer than three days, becoming somehow immune to the RM.

When there is talk about the Senate wanting to drop the pregnancy age to sixteen, the Voice of People (a group of terrorists that disagree with the breach of human rights that is the Hope Act and all the intense control the Senate inflicts on people) start to attack the perimeter of the city, burning things and killing innocents

But even an even worse threat than the Voice are the Partials. Machines with human DNA built to be stronger and faster, made to protect the humans and fight for them during war times... until they turned against their makers and released the RM virus on all mankind.

Kira is tired of seeing babies die and mothers suffer from their yearly losses. So she decides to look for a cure herself. There are great amounts of data on how the virus works in the infants it infects, but not much in how the survivors became immune to it. After a lot of researching, she comes to the conclusion that the ones who created the virus should have the cure in their blood. Kira gathers all her most trustworthy friends and asks them for help with capturing a Partial for study. After a lot of debate and hesitation, they have it all planned out, but the Partials are so much more powerful than they could have imagined, and only with much luck do they get one as a prisoner... just so the soldiers of the Senate can have him killed. But the Partial is saved by the bell. The senators decide they want to 'interview'

Kira intervenes and is allowed to study him for five days, on the agreement that afterwards the specimen is to be exterminated. The Partial, Samm, turns out to be brighter, more complex and more human than she was led to believe. He may also carry the secret to cure the virus. A virus he insists his kind did not create. Samm starts to make Kira doubt everything she's ever been taught. He also needs her help. Their only hope, for either of them, is to work together.

Sometimes your enemies aren't as bad as you were led to believe... and your heroes aren't nearly as good as they claim to be.

Partials was just pure action, packed with a whole lot of tension, drama and polemic issues. Teenagers being forced to breed like cattle for the survival of the species, a government controlling every single breath you take, hiding and distorting every piece of information to keep you under their thumbs, machines that are also part human...

You won't regret it. I bet my firstborn on it. Well....maybe. LOL. Seriously, you'll love it. When I first saw that cover, I just knew I had to read it. The synopsis almost blew my head off, it sounded so good. I'm glad it delivered everything it promised and more!! I devoured the whole thing in one afternoon, in one sitting. I just wish I had the next volume in my hands already. Oh, the waiting!!! Dan Wells, will you hurry up, pretty please? *-* (BTW, a love triangle with Samm really wouldn't hurt, now, would it? ;))

If you like creative, fast-paced Young Adult books with science fiction,post Apocalyptic and dystopian themes, GO FOR IT. If you don't, just read it, anyway! Or you'll be missing out on a really awesome new series. ;P

Review: Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson

Hunting Lila 
by Sarah Alderson

Published August 5th 2011 by Simon & Schuster UK

17-year-old Lila has two secrets she’s prepared to take to the grave. The first is that she can move things just by looking at them. The second is that she’s been in love with her brother’s best friend, Alex, since forever.

After a mugging exposes her unique ability, Lila decides to run to the only people she can trust—her brother and Alex. They live in Southern California where they work for a secret organisation called The Unit, and Lila discovers that the two of them are hunting down the men who murdered her mother five years before. And that they’ve found them.

In a world where nothing and no one is quite as they seem, Lila quickly realises that she is not alone—there are others out there just like her—people with special powers—and her mother’s killer is one of them…

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Publication Date: August 5th 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Format: paperback, 318 pages 

Series: yes

Source: bought

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My Review:

First line: Only when the tip of the knife started to shave against the white of his eye like a scapel about to pierce a boil, did I realise I was the one holding it.


Last line: And I believed him.

When I saw how many great ratings this book had, I was curious to see if it was as good as most people kept saying it was.

And... oh, boy. It was even better.

From the moment I read the first phrase I was completely lost into the story. It was incredibly engrossing. Lila was such an adorable character. Feminine, fragile and, yet, strong. I always had a thing for special abilities, and it was just fascinating to read about her trying to control hers. Usually in books (or movies), those with powers like hers just have total control of everything, so it's refreshing to see someone having some trouble with it. LOL.

Lila was a bit imature and stubborn at times... and that made her somewhat irritating, too. But she was 17-years-old, so... totally understandable. And quite fitting. 

Alex was super hot. And Oh-so-romantic. He did act a bit harsh and dry towards Lila later on in the story, but only because he was having some serious internal battles over what he was told and what he was seeing.

As a matter of fact, all of the characters were very believable. They were so well-written and well-described that it felt more like watching a movie than reading a book. They felt very human, very real. It's difficult to get that kind of vibe from books. Books don't normally make you really care about the characters (they should, but not often manage to), they're usually all about the story or the setting. Hunting Lila is about everything. If that makes sense to you.

That is to say: I just loved this book. I absolutely had to know what happened at the end so bad, I stayed up super late to finish it in one sitting. And when I spoke to the author on twitter (she actually thanked me for the 5-star rating!) I could really see why the book had such a gentle and intense feeling to it. Sarah Alderson is such a dear! She is so nice and polite and... well, humble. I was going to buy the second book (Losing Lila) as soon as it came out anyway, but now that I saw how sweet she is, I just feel even more like doing it. 

Let me tell you, it's authors like that that make you want to keep reading. ;)

If you like paranormal thriller YA's with great characters and a great story, then you'll be hooked by this one.

Early Review: The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry / Reading Romances April Challenge

Reading Romances April Challenge

Alternate Realities Month!


2) Read a book set in the future or a historical with an alternative reality (i.e. steampunk).

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The Peculiars
Maureen Doyle McQuerry

Expected publication date: May 1, 2012

This dark and thrilling adventure, with an unforgettable heroine, will captivate fans of steampunk, fantasy, and romance.

On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar. On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena’s father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears.

Genre: Young Adult, Steampunk

Publication Date: May 1st 2012

Publisher: Amulet Books

Format: eARC, 368 pages 

Series: ?

Source: Netgalley

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My Review

Eighteen-year-old Lena Mattacascar is a goblin. Or so she (and everybody else) suspects so. She was born with elongated hands and feet, soft fleshy soles and precocious intelligence. Ever since she can remember, her grandmother, Nana Crane, has been monitoring her for her wild thoughts, keen interest in money and too much of a temper. Like her father had. And Lena has been watching herself. She wants to know more about Saul Mattacascar, who left home when she was only five. A man best known for his constant visits to jail due to violence and money scams.

On the day of her eighteenth birthday, her mother gives her an envelope addressed to her by her father. It contains a small inheritance and a short letter. Despite her family's disapproval, Lena knows exactly what to do with the money. She's going to Scree, to find out more about her father, about herself and the other Peculiars.

Lena, with special shoes and gloves made to try and make her differences less noticeable, then embarks the train to Knob Knoster, where she intends to hire a guide to Scree. Also riding the train is cheerful Jimson Quiggley, a librarian in training, that doesn't seem the least horrified by her very long hands. Right before dinner, though, two criminals invade the train and release a prisoner. A goblin prisoner who was to be sent to Scree. After all the excitement, Lena finds that her purse containing most of her money, maps and notes is suddenly missing. Nobody can seem to find it. But Marshal Thomas Saltre, the one investigating the crime scene, seems to know an awful lot about her father. And her.

When she gets to Knob Knoster, she quickly needs comes up with a plan to best use the smaller amount of money she hid inside her chemise. She is accosted again by the Marshal, who overhears her asking around about a guide to Scree. He wants her to go ask a certain Mr. Beasley, and while there, do a little of spying for him. Apparently Mr. Beasley is doing something illegal, but the police aren't sure exactly what, yet. Only that Peculiars and nuns are involved. Lena hits the jackpot when she meets Mr. Quiggley again. He's Mr. Beasley's new librarian at Zephyr House, and, before she knows it, she's hired by the old man to help him out (what with her mother being a librarian and all).

Lena starts to get very fond of Mr. Quiggley... until she discovers he's already engaged. To makes things even more confusing to her, the Marshal seems to be taking a fancy to her. Or is he just trying to use her? All we really want to know is: What kind of futuristic experiments is Mr. Tobias Beasley doing? And what is he experimenting on the Peculiars? What is the deal with Mrs. Mumbles, the weird cat from Zephyr House? When is Lena finally going to Scree to meet her father?

I have to say that I wasn't sure how I would feel about his book, because I'm not really a big fan of steampunk, but The Peculiars is more fantasy than steampunk. The futuristic details in this late 1800s setting were not so exaggerated, which made it easier for me to enjoy the story. The last part of the book dragged a bit, I'm afraid, but, weirdly enough, the ending seemed a bit rushed to me. O.o

I really wanted to have seem more romance between Lena and Jimson and maybe some more explaining on the origins of Scree and the Peculiars, but I'll take what I can get. Darwin and God discussions included. LOL.

If you like steampunk YAs with mystery, fantasy, a lot of adventure and strong heroines, this is your book.

* I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Early Review: Starters (Starters #1) by Lissa Price

Starters (Starters #1)

by Lissa Price 

Expected publication: April 10th 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers 

HER WORLD IS CHANGED FOREVER 

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man. 

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . . 

Genre: Young Adult

Publication Date: April 10th 2012

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers 

Format: eARC, 368 pages 

Series: yes

Acquisition: Netgalley

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My Review

Sixteen year-old Callie Woodland is an orphan and a Starter. After the Spore Wars all the people from the ages 20-60 were killed by the disease, which spread faster than the vaccines. The children and elders were immunized first, due to their 'vulnerability', and so were the only survivors post-war. The youngsters are called Starters and the elders, Enders. Due to the greater numbers of senior citizens, that started to be able to reach over 250 years-old, it became forbidden for teenagers under the age of 19 to work or vote, hence giving the control of the work space, politics and economy to the elders.

Minors without live grandparents or any other family are forced to live on the streets, eating scraps and living in abandoned buildings. They are called squatters. Callie, her brother Tyler and her old neighbor Michael are squatters. The only other option is legalized slave labor. Or maybe not... there is Prime Destinations, aka, the Body Bank. There, teenagers rent their bodies out for Enders, so they can enjoy youth, parties and sports again, for a limited time and astounding fees. Callie needs the money, but finds the business suspicious and outright creepy. But little Tyler has a rare lung disorder, and as he gets weaker and weaker, Callie gets more desperate. She decides to sign up for the job, the promise of money, medicine and food being too tempting.

Things go well during the first tries, but when she's hired for a whole-month contract, she wakes up in her own body, only 1 week after being put to 'sleep'. But why is she in her body when there are still 3 weeks of rent to go? Where is her renter? And whose voice is it inside her head, constantly repeating: Callie... important... do not go back to Prime Destinations... ?

As Callie starts to dig deeper into Prime Destinations, she discovers a far scarier and even more dangerous plan than just body rental. A plan that is enforced by the Governor and the wealthiest Elders. A plan that can affect the future of all Starters. For worse.

I loved that in this book nothing was what it seemed. As a matter of fact, no ONE was as they first seemed to be. When you finally think you got it, you discover that, nope, siree, still getting there. Of course that from the first page you automatically know that the body rental business will be super shady, but you never expect real humans to actually try and take it that far.

It was really hard for me to accept how the Enders/elders mistreated, abused and explored minors. They really couldn't care less about the children around them, even their own family. They were selfish, shallow, absurdly rich and mean. Maybe it was a way for the author to criticize how teenagers mistreat, deprecate and belittle their elders? A way to show us how things could be if it was the other way around? Anyway, it was a scary sight. No sweet old ladies and good ol' grandpas in this book. To them, the younger they are, the less they are worth... until their young, fresh bodies are needed, of course.

Callie was undoubtedly a strong and smart character, but it did get a little tiring to see how she always acted on her own, with no one's help and almost never really interacting with other people, except when she pretended to be her renter for a few minutes. The longest interactions she had (and the most interesting) were with Blake. I'd like to have seen more of her and Michael or even her and her brother.

Starters was a very interesting book and I can't wait to see what happens in the next volume, Enders, that is expected to be released by the end of this year. Hopefully there'll be more romance. :P

If you like your YA dystopias with lots of action, drama and suspense, go for it!!

*I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Review: Seduction by Brenda Joyce

Seduction (The Spymaster's Men #1)

by Brenda Joyce

Expected publication: January 31st 2012 by Harlequin

Dominic Paget, the earl of Bedford, will do anything to resume spying upon Britain's enemies. Badly wounded, he is put will do anything in the care of a beautiful gentlewoman, Julianne Greystone, only to discover that her sympathies lie with his enemies. Yet he can't help but seduce the woman who saved his life—hoping she never learns of his betrayal.

Julianne is captivated by the wounded stranger she believes is a revolutionary hero. Until she discovers the truth…her "hero" is the privileged earl of Bedford. Devastated and determined to forget him, Julianne travels to London. But when she finds herself in danger, it is Bedford who comes to the rescue. Now Julianne must navigate the intrigues of a perilous city, the wild yearnings of her own heart and the explosion of their passion….

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My Review

Seduction is the second title I've read by Brenda Joyce. The first one was The Masquerade, which I loved. So I hoped I would like this one just as much. 

Okay, so...the book is set during the French Revolution.

It starts with Dominic Paget, son of a French viscountess and a British earl acting as a spy in France for the British government, being ambushed by an assassin. He is very near death's door when his friend Michel Jacquelyn and the brothers Lucas and Jack Greystone arrive to save him. They take him to Greystone manor, where he is tended by Julianne Greystone, a simple woman who has never had a day "of leisure and frivolity", in Joyce's words, having grown up doing chores a servant is expected to do.

The problem lies with Julianne being an active rebel, a Jacobin, and the co-founder of a society that supports the French revolution, in favor of a new political reform and social change... from Britain. She's seen by most people as a traitor to her country, even if the only thing she wants is equality. A home, food and clothing for every man and woman, not just for the wealthy.

Dominic is the earl of Bedford and a Tory (British agent). He has seen for himself all the horrible things happening at France because of the war. The bloodbath with innocent people dying every day. The reality of the Jacobins and how they started to control their own people and forced them towards violence (seemingly having forgotten their initial ideals)... yet, he can't say any of it to Julianne, because she thinks he is a fellow radical, a poor French army officer healing from a gun wound in enemy lands. He uses the alias Charles Maurice.

She falls in love with Charles and feels completely betrayed when she finds out how much of it all was a lie. But it's him she calls for when she's arrested for sedition and the suspicion of treason. Dom comes to her aid like a knight in shining armor, taking her to his place and showering her with beautiful clothes, jewelry and parties. Things she never even dreamed off.

The couple goes through a lot of drama. Julianne find out his old fianceé is not dead like he told her, she is threatened by a radical (who was supposedly on her side) and forced to spy on and betray Dom or have her family hurt, Dom kicks her out of his house and goes back to war...

Brenda Joyce is very historically accurate, providing a lot of information so we can keep up with the dates, locations and events... however I think maybe historical spy books based on real facts may not be my thing. To me, the book felt too long at times, even though the writing was excellent and I liked the characters.

Also, I couldn't help but notice all the similarities between Seduction and The Masquerade. Both heroines suffer a LOT because of the heroes. Both heroes get mad for thinking they were horribly betrayed by their loved ones, but find out they were wrong (NO!) and ask for forgiveness. Both heroines get pregnant and hide it from the heroes. Many things sounded familiar.

The thing is... I loved all that drama on The Masquerade, being my first read from her and all, only now I'm wondering if those similarities were just a coincidence or some kind of pre-made formula for writing... But I can't say much more until I check other books by Ms Joyce (which I very well intend to do, regardless of how this one made me feel).

All in all, if you're interested in historical romances with a great narrative, a lot of drama and hot spies, or simply want to know more about the French Revolution, this is your book. ;)

*I received an e-arc from the publisher by Netgalley in exchange from an honest review.*

Mona Lisa Eclipsing - Review

Mona Lisa Eclipsing

(Monère: Children of the Moon #5)

by Sunny

From the time she was an orphan, Mona Lisa knew she was different. As a Mixed-Blood daughter of the Monère, she rules her domain in the Louisiana Bayou. But she’s about to become the hunted as her mind begins playing tricks, and no one is who they seem.

Roberto Carderas, a dangerous drug lord of mixed Monère heritage, arrives in Cozumel to eliminate a rival. But the jaguar-shifter has encountered a much more valuable prize on the island: Mona Lisa, the first female Monère he’s ever met—and one especially vulnerable in that she has lost her memory. Now, with all knowledge of her real life as stripped away as her defenses, Mona Lisa can be manipulated into believing…anything.

Convinced that Roberto is her kind and sensual protector, Mona Lisa thwarts all attempts at her rescue—including those made by her desperate lover Dante. As Roberto’s devious scheme gets underway, Dante can only hope that the touch of his warm flesh will reignite total recall in the body and mind of the woman he loves. But escape for both of them could be as forever elusive as Mona Lisa’s past.

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My Review:




After a 2-year wait for the next book in the series (during which I almost died from anxiety and despair from thinking maybe Sunny had given up on Mona Lisa and intended on continuing only with Lucinda's books), Mona Lisa Eclipsing came to me like a blow in the head.


I was happy and apprehensive to know that Dante would return... then I started reading.


At the beginning the book made me writhe with impatience over the difficulty of finding Dante and then having to go through Mona Lisa's (very painful) memory loss. We were introduced to new characters, such as jaguar-shifter/Mixed Blood/drug dealer, Roberto, and other new enemies, such as the wild Monère controlled by Mona Sierra.


The sex scenes were very few, if compared to the previous books, proving that Sunny tried her best to make up for lost time with real innovations in the story. And that she did.
Mona Lisa had the incentive of the Mother Queen to spread out the knowledge of the Monère race to humans, after a televised accident with a rogue male warrior. With the help of press and the apparent "understanding" of the autorities, she accomplished it.


Now we can only patiently wait for the next volumes to see the actual response of the other Queens, Mixed Bloods and Rogues around the world, (which promises to be so very interesting, not to mention challenging), and hope that our brilliant and beloved author Sunny doesn't make us suffer so much (again) while we do so.