Review: State of Emergency (Book #1) by Summer Lane

State of Emergency (Book #1)
by Summer Lane

What would you do if the world as you know it ended in an instant?

How far would you go to survive?

Cassidy Hart is your typical High School graduate: a little shy, a little sarcastic, and a little naive. But when an electromagnetic pulse takes down the United States, she's forced to kick into full survival mode when she gets separated from her father.

Yeah. Things suck.

But with the help of a handsome soldier named Chris, she just might find her dad without getting into serious trouble.

Emphasis on might.

Oh. And there's the matter of avoiding getting killed in a world that's quickly turned into an active war zone.

It's going to change Cassidy's life.

It's going to be a major pain in the butt.

Genre: New Adult, Apocalyptic

Publication Date: Jan 18th 2013

Publisher: Writng Belle

Format: eARC, 360 pages 

Series: yes

Source: copy from the author

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My Review

Nobody knows how it started, only that, out of nowhere, technology turned on humans. Cellphones died, lights went out, car batteries wouldn't work... and chaos ensued.

Cassidy Hart finds herself in the middle of it all. But thanks to her well-prepared father, she has a working car, supplies and a scape plan. Until the moment she meets Chris Young, a very cute soldier who asks her for a ride... and then the whole plan starts to fall apart. Now they're both on the run from crazy starving civilians and an even crazier militia group called Omega. 

But why is Omega group so interested in them? And how come her father was so well-prepared for something like this? Was meeting Chris just a coincidence? What is really going on?

Cassie has no idea. But she will find out.

Wow. State of Emergency was pure undiluted action! I really liked the way the writing instantly sucked me into the story and just wouldn't let me go! It was the first I've read from this author and was pleasantly surprised to enjoy it so much. I love survival / post-apocalyptical stories, but they aren't always that well executed, so YAY for State of Emergency! I especially liked that it a New Adult book, meaning that the main character wasn't a teen anymore. We need some more heroines in the 19-25 age range.

However, it was not all flowers and rainbows. This book had many similarities to the TV series Revolution. There was the global shutdown of all electronic devices, the start of journey in search of a family member, the 'help of a handsome soldier', and a crazy militia group stalking them... so I really couldn't help but compare them both.

Cassidy did some really stupid stuff, too. She fell for obvious traps, she trusted people who were clearly untrustworthy, and, in my opinion, she was way too nice for someone in her situation. I'm sure that if it was real life she would have shot some people. Maybe even killed someone. I mean, come on, when people are trying their best to kill YOU at any cost, you're not just gonna stand there and do nothing to stop them when you have the chance to, will you? But, well, I suppose it wouldn't look good for the heroine to be bloodthirsty...

Oh, and there were these parts where Cassie went on and on and on about obesity in America. I was like, HELLO? It's the end of the world, people are killing and being killed all the time, there's no electricity anywhere, there's a militia group enslaving people, there's almost no food and water anywhere and all you think about is how all this is a good cure for obesity? Seriously? If she had mentioned it once or twice, it would be no biggie; sure, it does, in fact, make some sense when you think about it. But she elaborated on it over SIX times. I know, I counted. She didn't worry about people clearly losing their humanity around her as much as she worried about obesity. Well, that tells you a lot about her. Oh, and I'm not saying it's a good thing to be obese, but if Cassie had some more meat on her bones maybe she wouldn't have almost frozen to death that many times. >.<

Chris was an amazing character... he was smart, kind-hearted and unbelievably patient. I liked him a lot. Even if all he did was save our silly, self-desctructive little heroine most of the time. When he wasn't acting like total man-candy, that is. Not that I'm complaining about THAT part. 

Anyway, I actually learned quite a few survival tips from this book. Turns out I just have to do the opposite of whatever Cassie did. ha-har. Well, jokes aside, State of Emergency made me feel a bit worried about how I'd act if the same happened. I just know I'd be totally screwed. O.o It also makes you think about how people can be perfectly civil and kind one moment and then just slit your throat for an energy bar in the next. If the end of the world happens, of course. Or if they are crazy psychos. But you get my drift. It's an interesting, though frightening, concept.

Funny tidbit: All the time I was reading State of Emergency I was picturing Chris as Chris Hemsworth in the movie Thor. Coincidentally, author Summer Lane admitted in her interview to imagine him like that, as well. The guy IS incredibly hot. *-*

 (And, no, this wasn't just an excuse for me to post more pictures of Chris Hemsworth. Ok, maybe it was.)

All in all, State of Emergency does its job very well! It thrills you, it scares you, it keeps you reading like crazy because you just have to see what happens next, and, most important of all, it makes you feel. And that is not an easy feat for a book. I'm REALLY looking forward to reading what happens in the next book! XD

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.*

I'm curious. What would you do if the world as you know it ended in an instant?

Mini-Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection (The Selection #1)
by Kiera Cass

Published April 24th 2012 by HarperTeen

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself--and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia

Publication Date: April 24th, 2012

Publisher: HarperTeen

Format: e-book, 327 pages 

Series: yup

Source: My Kindle

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My Review

Oh, man. Will you just look at that cover? I LOVE blue. And it's just so... so... pretty and blue. LOL. And it's a dystopian book! *-* Wow, right? The blurb didn't really catch my attention, but that cover... I just had to read it.

So it took me while to get into the story and warm up to America Singer (Really? That's her name? REALLY?) and her life. Thankfully, things quickly started to fall into palce and settings and situations were better explained and I just started going bananas over her (very unnerving) world and its weird laws.

The plot had this very 'TV Show' vibe to it (which, of course, it sort of was), and America was almost always such an annoying Goody Two-Shoes, which bothered me a lot. However, the love triangle was pure awesome sauce. I gobbled the whole Aspen/America/Maxon thing up and was left wanting MORE.

To me their romance was such an emotional roller-coaster! As soon as Aspen appeared in the book I instantly wished I had him for myself, and then BAM, he goes and breaks my America's heart like that! Literally heart-wrenching, you guys. My chest really sort of hurt. Okay, enough drama.

I got so lost into the story that when it was over I was like 'That's it?'. I forgot to check beforehand if it was part of a series, so it was a bit of a let down to be left hanging like that... but that's the idea, I suppose.

After a lukewarm start, The Selection sucked me in and wouldn't let me go. The story stayed in my mind for hours after I was done, which is kind of rare in my case. But not bad. Not bad at all.

(sort of spoiler ahead)

However, I believe there won't be many difficulties for America to choose. Okay, scratch that, there will be a LOT of drama. What I meant to say was: she just needs to make a decision, because either way all her problems are solved. Aspen, who was from a lowly caste, became part of the Castle's guard. He is now a Caste 2 or 3, if I'm not mistaken. And as America joined the competition, she instantly became a 2. If she chooses him, they'll both be part of the higher castes, which meand their families will also be high castes, and they will never go hungry again. Happy ending. And if she chooses Maxon and becames a freaking princess, she'll be super high Caste and, ditto here, everybody lives happily ever after. That is, Aspen not included. LOL. Oh, and there will be the super plus that she'll be able to make an actual difference when ruling, helping out the lower castes or, who knows, maybe even bringing an end to all that nonsense. But let's slow down here.

The Selection is much better than I expected and I can't wait for the next book. :)

Review: Eve (Eve #1) by Anna Carey

Eve (Eve #1)
by Anna Carey

Published December 1st 2011 by HarperCollins

Where do you go when nowhere is safe?

After a deadly virus wiped out most of Earth's population, the world is a terrifying place.

Eighteen-year-old Eve has never been beyond the heavily guarded perimeter of her school, where she and two hundred other orphaned girls have been promised a bright future in The New America. But the night before graduation, Eve learns the shocking truth about her school's real purpose--and the horrifying fate that awaits her.

Fleeing the only home she's ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Caleb slowly wins her trust . . . and her heart. But when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia

Publication Date: December 1st 2011

Publisher:  HarperTeen

Format: paperback, 318 pages 

Series: yes

Source: my own copy

________________________________

When I first started reading Eve, I had no idea what it was about. I had just reached over to my pile of unread books and it was sitting there, so I grabbed it.

It's not 'Oh, my, this is fantastic, everybody should read this before they die, here's a copy', but it is a good, intense read. A little silly and slow at times, sure, (I mean, this IS YA), but the whole post-apocalyptical situation is so terrifying and aggravating, Eve's world so indignant, and the action scenes so... 'heart-racing', that it becomes well balanced. :)

I'm strange about the books I keep and the ones I trade, but this one... well, this one I'll keep. It's not a 5 stars book on the whole, mind you, but for a few excellent scenes... it gets very close to it. I get the feeling Anna Carey could do so much better, but that maybe she held back sometimes because she wanted it to become a YA book... her violent scenes are so... no-nonsense and clear and disgustingly real, they're blood-curdling in their simplicity. I think she would make an AMAZING Adult writer. Really. Here's hoping, right?

That scene with the pregnant students tied down... yeesh. >.< *shudders* It still resurfaces in my mind randomly. And I've read it over a month ago. O.o I can also still recall the almost-rape scene... the yellowish color of the evil man's teeth... how sweet the the orphan boys were. You see? It's about the little things, the very well-written few parts that suck you in! But there can't be that many of those, because it's supposed to be for young audiences... and, really, JUST 318 pages? I though this kind of books normally could go up to 368 pages, or am I wrong? I am aware this is a series, however, I feel the story could have been slightly improved in those 50 more possible pages... 

The romance was cute and light, not insta-love, which is a certain plus... friendship was also nicely dealt with in Eve, and so was jealousy and betrayal. I can't wait to read Once and Rise. I am really looking forward to learning more about this weird, evil King that forces young girls to study for years straight only to tie them down and get them pregnant until they die of exhaustion and/or childbirth. I mean, seriously? How freaking mean and black-hearted can you possibly be? If you only want them as 'sows' for reproduction, why make them study so hard and hope for the future so bad? Like that'll make better babies! ... Or maybe he does it so they'll have something to occupy their brilliant minds with while they're tied down and knocked-up for the twentieth time, so they won't break so quickly? I don't know.... >.> Like I said, Carey is the boss here. ;P

Have you read Eve? What did you enjoy the most about it? If you haven't read it, do you feel like reading it?

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

Early Review: Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Monument 14

by Emmy Laybourne

Expected publication: June 5th 2012 by Feiwel & Friends

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

A huge store isn’t the worst place to be stranded. There’s food and water, bedding and books. But what if it’s not safe to leave? Emmy Laybourne had us from the get-go with her utterly fresh and fast-paced debut.

Six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids are trapped together in a chain superstore. Together they build a refuge for themselves inside, while outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapon spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia

Publication Date: June 5th 2012

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Format: eARC, 294 pages 

Series: no

Source: Netgalley

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My review

Dean and his brother Alex are late for the bus. And as they run for it, they can never imagine this might be the last time they'll see their parents. On the way to school a terrible hail storm hits the city. But this isn't ordinary hail. These are enormous balls, heavy enough to start breaking the windows and making dents in the roof of the school buses. The students are hurt and there a couple of casualties, but eventualy they end up in the momentary safety of the inside of a superstore. There are kids from fifth grade to high school seniors. And they have to fend for themselves until help comes. If it ever will.

Inside the store are fourteen people: Dean, who is in love with super athlete Astrid, whom is dating Jake, the hot jock. Niko, the boy scout, likes Josie, the girl with a serious head concussion who eventually gets better and hooks up with Brayden, the jerk. And then there is Sahalia, the thirteen year-old that wants to be a grown-up and Alex, the pre-adolescent tech genious. And the six little kids who all want their momies. 

The Network, which has never gone down, is not working. So there is no contact with the outside world. Their only source of information from the outside comes from an old slim TV, that is considered completely outdated, but, unlike everything else, works without The Network. That's how they discover that there's been an 8.2 earthquake, the biggest volcano eruption and tsunami ever documented and, if that wasn't bad enough, that there has been a leak of chemical warfare compounds from NORAD. A chemical leak that forms a very thick cloud all over the city and, if inhaled, causes different reactions depending on the blood type of the individual. Blood type O can become bloodthirsty, losing their minds and killing anything in sight.  Blood type A can have blisters all over their bodies, which can make them hemorrhage to death. Blood type AB can hallucinate and blood type B can have no reactions on the outside at all, but become sterile.

After a few days go by and they start to accept that maube nobody is coming, the teens begin to argue about who is in charge and who makes the decisions. Should they enjoy their days and play and have fun with all the store has available? Or should they organize everything, calcute how long their provisions will last, control the electric power to last longer, etc? It was fascinating to see them react to the problems that kept coming up and find the solutions. To see them deal with the issues at hand, see them deal with the very difficult small kids and with each other. 

The book showed some kinds of situations you never even imagine can ever happen, so it's good to know what is possible to do with the items at hand and how to act if certain circumstances ever come up. It may be fiction, but, however unlikely, not everything there is impossible.

I really, really enjoyed the book as a whole. There was never a dull moment, everything that happened was exciting and surprising and intriguing and made you want more and more and more... but the ending was SO very frustrating. I wish there was an epilogue or something, so we know what really happens, how it really ends. From the first sentence I knew I would really enjoy this book. And I wasn't wrong. But even though I was seriously stirred up by the plot and the characters and everything, I just wasn't satisfied with the ending at all. But I really recommend it!! Monument 14 is amazingly creative, absurdly engaging.

If you like post-apocalyptic and dystopian YAs with a strong survival theme, some romance and drama thrown in the mix, you'll really enjoy Monument 14.

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

Review: Tomorrow Land by Mari Mancusi

 

Tomorrow Land
by Mari Mancusi

Published March 8th 2012 by NLA Digital

Can true love survive the end of the world?

Imagine finding your first love, only to be ripped apart by the apocalypse. Peyton Anderson will never forget the day she was forced to make a choice--between her family--and Chris Parker, the boy she'd given her heart. Now, four years later, as she steps from the fallout shelter and into a dead and broken world, he's the only thing on her mind.

All Chris "Chase" Parker wanted was to take Peyton away and keep her safe from harm. But he waited for hours in the rain on judgment day and she never showed--breaking his heart without ever telling him why.

Now the two of them have been thrown together once again, reluctant chaperones to a group of orphan children in a post-apocalyptic world where the dead still walk...and feed. As they begin their pilgramage to the last human outpost on Earth, can they find a way to let go of old hurts and find the love they lost--all while attempting to save what's left of the human race?

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia

Publication Date: March 8th 2012

Publisher: NLA Digital

Format: eARC, ? pages 

Series: no

Source: Netgalley

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My Review

It's the year of 2030, and fifteen-year-old Peyton Anderson wouldn't go out with Chris Parker if he was the last guy on Earth. She's also not very happy about her crackpot of a father, who will tell anyone who'll listen about how The End of Days is coming soon and how dangerous the government is. Oh, and he won't let her have any of the advanced  technology that everybody else has because he's so afraid the government might be monitoring them. And he most certainly won't allow her to get her LTF, a License to Fu--, well, you get the idea. Its real name is the Copulation Conditional and nobody can have sex without this license, and it's only given to those who have taken their AIDS vaccine. But, like with everything else, her father doesn't trust this vaccine... and this time his craziness just might be right.

All of a sudden people start falling sick. First it's just a few isolated cases, quickly covered by the government... but then the disease starts to quickly spread. The first sign of Super Flu is people coughing blood. After that they might die...or not. If they don't die, they become 'zombies'. At the beginning it only happens to those who have taken the AIDS vaccine, that is, all the adults and a handful of teens. But then the virus seems to evolve, becoming airborne. And that's when 'The End of Days' Dr.Anderson has been talking about all this time really makes an appearance.

Peyton is slowly starting to warm up to Chris, she might even be falling in love, but the evident Apocalypse threatens to separate them. Chris and a few other kids decided to run to the mountains to scape the disease and 'the Others' (zombies), and Peyton had every plan to go with them... but after being experienced on and cybernetically enhanced by her father, she is forced to enter an underground shelter, equipped with every necessary provisions, with her mother. Her father assures her it would open in four years, after which she would have one mission. To find her father and save the world.

It's 2034 and the world is a very different place. Peyton is a very different person. She doesn't know what has been happening these last four years, who has survived and who hasn't... the only thing she does know is that she must join her father in California. To be more exact, she needs to go to DisneyWorld. That's where he told her a group of his scientists friends would be, working on a cure. So that's where she's going... until she meets him again. Chris Parker, who might as well be the last guy on Earth.

I expected Tomorrow Land to have a completely different story... and to be much better. Honestly, Peyton sort of pissed me off AND confused me. One moment she's saying how much she can't stand Chris and how he has been stalking her since they were kids and all... and the next she just can't believe how great a guy he is and oh, she just might be falling for him. Seriously, it all changed radically in just a matter of a few days. Sorry, but I couldn't swallow that. 

And when they were finally reunited four years later, things still didn't go very smoothly with me.  Or with them. There was waaaaay too much drama. Oh, she stood me up four years ago, I can't just forgive her. Oh, I can't explain to him why I stood him up four years ago, so I'll just be cold. Oh, I need to be strong, so I'll ignore her and push her away. Oh, I need to save the world and be on my own, so I'll just ignore him and push him away. Oh, he's a lying junky, I can't trust him. Oh, she just won't trust me, so I'll give up on her. Oh, I've been bitten by a zombie, so I'll be cold and push her away yet again for no apparent reason. Jeez! Drama much?? O.o I was like: WAKE UP, you two losers! It's the freaking end of the world, you have half a dozen kids to take care of (kids that are not well explained or well utilized as they should), tons os zombies to kill and hundreds of miles to cover til Florida, and all they can think of is stupid reasons not to be together. Either just break up or not. It was like the zombies were getting smarter and the main characters were getting more stupid...

The book felt like it was too long and it dragged quite a bit. It seems to me like there were lots of unnecessary things and pages and many issues that could have been better developed. The ending, by itself, wasn't surprising. But its abruptness was. The whole thing was very brusque. Too much description, not enough action. I believe the whole 'phantom city with zombie fights' could have been completely deleted to make room for a more decent ending.

But even with all those many things that bothered me, I still couldn't put the book down. I read the whole thing, because I really wanted to see what would happen. Strange, but true. I guess that's why there are so many 5 star reviews of it.

If you like apocalyptic YAs with lots of zombies and difficult romances, then you might enjoy Tomorrow Land. 

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

Review: After the Snow by S.D. Crockett, Sophie Crockett

After the Snow
by S.D. Crockett, Sophie Crockett


Fifteen-year-old Willo was out hunting when the trucks came and took his family away. Left alone in the snow, Willo becomes determined to find and rescue his family, and he knows just who to talk with to learn where they are. He plans to head across the mountains and make Farmer Geraint tell him where his family has gone.

But on the way across the mountain, he finds Mary, a refugee from the city, whose father is lost and who is starving to death. The smart thing to do would be to leave her alone -- he doesn't have enough supplies for two or the time to take care of a girl -- but Willo just can't do it. However, with the world trapped in an ice age, the odds of them surviving on their own are not good. And even if he does manage to keep Mary safe, what about finding his family?

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia

Publication Date: March 27th 2012

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Format: eARC, 304 pages 

Series: no

Source: Netgalley


_______________________

My Review

Willo is the only one left. While he was out hunting hares, the government came and took his family away. He needs to find them, and in order to do that, he needs to travel deep into the snow to find their closest 'neighbor', the farmer Geraint, and ask for an explanation. 

On his way there he finds a small house he thinks is abandoned, but inside are two starving kids, waiting for their father to return. Willo sees a dead body outside the hosue and knows his father won't be coming back... but he can't save them. They won't make it. It'd be like 'throwing food to the snow'. A waste of effort. So he leaves them, promising to return, never really meaning it... but he does come back, stricken with guilt. The younger brother has perished and there are dangerously hungry wolves eating the body outside the house... and wanting to eat him. The girl, Mary, is almost delirious with cold and hunger, but allows him to take her away. They are attacked by the wolves, but fight back with fire, just barely making it out alive with all their body parts.

Willo intends to take her to the city and come back to question Geraint, but they are chased by  famished 'stealers' and happen upon a truck with city people. They take them in and save them from the stealers... but Willo and Mary have no papers. They can't make it into the city without papers. But with a little help from the most friendly (or less aggressive) workers inside the truck, they make it to the city unnoticed. There, Willo is out of his element, but Mary takes over, finding food and shelter, but he can't stay there. He needs to find out more about what happened to his father... and, boy, is he surprised to know he never really knew his father at all.

If you're looking forward to a well explained story, with a clear, entertaining narrative and maybe even some romance, you'll be just as disappointed as I was with After the Snow.

The book has a beautiful cover, a very promising synopsis and does a great job in acclimatizing us to the harsh winter on the mountains and city (it made me cold and bothered just by reading them)... but, unfortunately, the story is bland and, very often, confusing. The main character, Willo, narrates the story and has terrible English, which takes some getting used to. It certainly didn't help me like him more and it took quite a chunk of my attention from the plot. I considered giving up the reading a few times, like a lot of reviewers did, but I persevered. And things did get a bit better, but they still didn't weren't very worth my effort, I'm sorry to say. :(

How the apocalyptic situation came to be wasn't made very clear at all, there was just a vague mention of strong climate changes due to polution. Like in all dystopians, the government wants to control everything and smash the opposition, but even those things don't appear too much in the book, which could have made things more interesting, or, at least, easier to understand. As a matter of fact, nothing very exciting happens until the very few last pages... unless you consider the wolf attack (to me, it was the best scene in the whole thing). That was when I thought maybe some romance would blossom and give the readers something to hope for... buuuut.... nope, nothing.

In a nutshell, the story just didn't grab my attention. During most of the book I thought Willo had some kind of psychological problem (using a dog's skull and skin and talking to an imaginary dog spirit all the time didn't help much), the use of his flawed English makes you think he is much older than he really is -even though I knew this was a Young Adult- and the ending seemed rushed and somehow incomplete to me. 

All in all, it's worth giving a try. We all have different tastes, so you might end up loving it. :)

*The publisher was kind enough to allow me to review this book in advance through Netgalley.*


Have you read After the Snow? What are your thoughts on it? If not, what do you expect? Please leave a comment and let me know. :)

Review: Pure (Pure #1) by Julianna Baggott

Pure (Pure #1)

by Julianna Baggott

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . . 

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run. 

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . . 

There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her. 

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia

Publication Date: February 8th 2012

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Format: eARC, 448 pages 

Series:yes

Source: Netgalley

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My Review

It's been nine years since The Detonations. The skies are filled with blackened clouds and the air is thick with ash and dust, maing it dangerous to breathe. After the bombs, nothing was the same. Everything was either partially or completely destroyed. The water was black with deadly chemicals. Those that did survive had lost limbs and other body parts, or had gained new, bizarre ones. But not those inside the Dome. They were safe. And, at first, were the only hope for those outside.

Pressia Belze lives with her grandfather, her only remaining family, in the backroom of a burned out barbershop. But he's getting old and forgetful, unfit to take care of himself... and Pressia is about to turn 16, which means the ORS is coming for her soon. They'll take her away and train her to kill by using live targets. Who are the targets? Anyone who was too deformed by the bombs.

Pressia wonders about life inside the Dome. Do 16-year-olds have birthday parties, with cake, gifts and music? Well, she certainly does not. Life would be so much different if she were inside the Dome... if she were a Pure. But would it really be better than her life outside? She used to think so, until meets an actual Pure.

Partridge has lost his mother when she failed to enter the Dome by trying to help others. Later on, he lost his brother, who killed himself because of the pressure. He only has his father, a very important man inside the Dome, but he doesn't seem to care much about him at all. Life inside the Dome starts to bother him more and more, and when he finds his mother's old tokens, he starts to wonder if she is really dead, like his father says. What if she's still out there? 

He starts to plan an escape... and when he does get out there, he's surprised to find out that maybe not all he was taught inside the classroom was true. When Pressia, also a runaway, saves his life, he asks for help with the search. She introduces him to Bradwell, a 'friend' who can help, and then they go to the old street where his house used to be. They look for clues for his mother's whereabouts, and discover she might actually be alive... but the ORS manages to capture Pressia, and now it's his turn to save her.

Pure has a very interesting story, and gives us a very frightening look into what could actually happen if there was a Nuclear war. 

There's a girl with a doll head molded to her hand, a guy with birds stuck to his back and a Pure, together in search for the truth. Sounds pretty good, right? But while you're reading, you start to have SO many questions! You just want to know, so, so bad, about what really happened before, why was it necessary and who was behind it all!? But it takes a while to find out. A looong while. The story starts to drag a bit. And... oh, dear. I just couldn't bring myself to really care about the characters...We're introduced to so many! Sometimes it feelt like a lot of superflous stuff was happening... and that the book had more pages than were necessary, I guess. Maybe those things (and people) will make more sense in the next books? Who knows? 

If you like your young adult dystopia with a post apocalyptic setting and a quite realistic possibility of the future, you should give Pure a try.

*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.*