Extraction by Stephanie Diaz

Clementine has spent her whole life preparing for her sixteenth birthday, when she’ll be tested for Extraction in the hopes of being sent from the planet Kiel’s toxic Surface to the much safer Core, where people live without fear or starvation. When she proves promising enough to be “Extracted,” she must leave without Logan, the boy she loves. Torn apart from her only sense of family, Clem promises to come back and save him from brutal Surface life.

What she finds initially in the Core is a utopia compared to the Surface—it’s free of hard labor, gun-wielding officials, and the moon's lethal acid. But life is anything but safe, and Clementine learns that the planet's leaders are planning to exterminate Surface dwellers—and that means Logan, too.
Trapped by the steel walls of the underground and the lies that keep her safe, Clementine must find a way to escape and rescue Logan and the rest of the planet. But the planet leaders don't want her running—they want her subdued.

This book started out very slow. I couldn't seem to get into it and was constantly bored. Eventually it sped up and I'm really glad I stuck with it. I really enjoyed the rest of the series, especially Evolution, the final book.

When I first started reading this, I just thought it was a copy of Divergent since there are many similarities between the two. When it comes down to it though, it had better world building than Divergent and the things that I thought were so similar between the two really were quite different. Sure, there were simulations, very similar characters, a brave, selfless character... but when it really comes down to it a lot of books are really similar to other ones and most of the time its just because its impossible to write a book that is unlike any other one in all ways. For that reason, the similarities between Extraction and Divergent can be overlooked.

The main idea behind the book, the poisonous moon, was completely original. At first it seemed really weird and random, but it does really make sense once you figure out why its poisonous. The writing was also really good and I loved how it made me feel like I was really watching in on the story take place. There was a lot of showing instead of telling and that was good.

All in all, this was a great read for me. Stay tuned for my reviews of Rebellion and Evolution!!!

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

Waiting on Wednessday #2

This weeks waiting on Wednesday is The Rose Society by Marie Lu. Even though I wasn't a big fan of her "Legend" series I absolutely loved The Young Elites and cannot wait for its sequel!

From New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu comes the second book in the exhilarating Young Elites series

Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all.

Adelina Amouteru’s heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she and her sister flee Kenettra to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers that murdered her love, the Crown Prince Enzo Valenciano.

But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good, when her very existence depends on darkness?

Are you impatiently waiting October 13th when The Rose Society is released? Did the first book's cliffhanger kill you as much as it killed me? What other books are you waiting for? Leave a comment and be sure to follow this blog!!!

Crossing into Brooklyn by Mary Ann McGuigan

 To Find Your Future, You Have to Face Your Past

At sixteen, Morgan Lindstrum has the life that every other girl wants--at least from the outside. A privileged only child, she has everything she could ever want, except her parents' attention. A Princeton physicist and a high-powered executive, they barely have any time for each other, much less for Morgan. Then her beloved grandfather dies, depriving Morgan of the only stable figure in her life. If that's not enough, she suddenly finds out he was never her grandfather at all. To find out the truth about her family, Morgan makes her way to Brooklyn, where she meets Terence Mulvaney, the Irish immigrant father who her mother disowned. Morgan wants answers; but instead of just satisfying her curiosity, Mulvaney shows her the people in his condemned tenement building, who are suffering and have nowhere to go. He challenges her to help them, by tearing away the veil of shame, and showing her wealthy parents and her advantaged circle of friends a world they don't want to know exists. The temptation to walk away from this ugly reality, as her mother did, is strong. But if she does, can Morgan ever really leave behind what she learned when she crossed into Brooklyn?

 I had mixed feelings with this book. I loved how close Morgan was to most of her family and how she was trying to find answers as to why her mother didn't want her to meet her real grandfather. On the other hand, I thought it was kind of confusing and weird how her mother wouldn't really talk about her real family and how she wouldn't let her daughter meet her father.

I was completely wrong about what this book was about. I thought it might have some romance, and maybe some relationship drama. Instead I got a girl trying to meet her grandfather and her lying to almost everyone in her life- her mother about going to see her grandfather, her crush/boyfriend about having been with other people before... Morgan started to really annoy me and I continually wished that she would just come clean with EVERYTHING. There was WAAAYYYY to much drama.

I would have been fine with this book being about a girl meeting her grandfather and getting to know him. I actually would have loved to read a book like that but it seemed like the author kept adding more plot lines into it and just got in over her head. This made the plot jumbled and confusing and it just didn't work very well for me. I also feel not all the loose ends were tied up at the end and I really hated the ending. It seemed like the author just sort of gave up on wanting the characters to be happy and sort of gave them all really depressing futures. I don't want to give out spoilers so that's all I will say but it just seemed like a non-memorable ending that I know for a fact I will not remember a month from now. For most books a year from the day that I read them the only thing I will remember about the book is how the characters ended up. With this book I'm not sure I'll even remember anything about it. I might be happy rereading it though, especially to see if I like it more the second time around.

Overall, I might recommend this. I'm really not sure. It was an average book for me but you might like it more, or you might not like it all so much. All I can say is it really depends on your personal preferences and that if the synopsis sounds good to you then you should really try it out!

***I received this book from the publisher via a giveaway on Goodreads. A huge thank you goes out!***

Thanks for reading!
~Bri

Stacking the Shelves #3

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

 

 

Books I received for review:

 

Irish Meadows by Susan Anne Mason:

 

I requested this book from Bethany House's monthly email that has books available for review. I was ecstatic when I found that I was chosen to be able to read this and I devoured it. I found it to be a very entertaining read and the link for my review is above. A huge thank you goes out to Bethany House for allowing me to read and review this book for them!!!

 

 

 

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead:

 

I got this book in the mail from Penguin Random House. A huge thank you goes out to them for this book!! I saw that it was at BEA and I was so bummed when I was unable to go because of monetary reasons. The plane ticket would have been way too expensive, but since its going to be in Chicago next year I have a very good chance that I can go (fingers crossed big-time!!!) I originally requested a different ARC, but I'm pretty sure it was unavailable so they sent this one instead which I was super excited about. I really liked this one guys so be sure to read it!!!

 

Books I won!!!:

 

Crossing into Brooklyn by Mary Ann McGuigan

 

I was so happy when I won this on Goodreads. I entered the giveaway for it 100% sure I wasn't going to win and I guess it was my lucky day because I did along with two other books all within a week and a half. I have finished this one and I really enjoyed it. It wasn't one of my favorites, but the family relationships were so touching and sometimes heartbreaking that I did enjoy it quite a bit. My review will be up sometime soon, hopefully tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

So that was the books that I got in the past few weeks (maybe a month, I'm not sure). I did buy quite a few books too (sorry, I'm weak when it comes to not buying books) and I did not include those on here since I'm not quite sure when I'll get to them. Stay tuned and please follow!

 

~Bri

Max the Brave Trailer!!!!

Be one of the first people to view the Max the Brave trailer RIGHT HERE!!!!!!!

Max the Brave is scheduled to be released September 8th, 2015 by Sourcebooks!! All of the pages are so adorable and obviously it is going to be a hit with little kids. I hope to be part of the blog tour this September so stay tuned for that!!! In the meantime, the website for the book, the activity kit, and the educators guide's URLs can be viewed with the links below.

Website:
http://books.sourcebooks.com/maxthebrave/
Activity Kit:
http://sourcebooksftp.com/Email/MaxTheBrave/MaxTheBrave-ActivityKit.pdf
Educator's Guide: http://sourcebooksftp.com/Email/MaxTheBrave/MaxTheBrave-ActivityKit.pdf

Be sure to read this book when it comes out!! I'm so happy to share the trailer for it with you and I think it is going to be a great book. I just wish it would have been released when I was a kid!!!

Waiting on Wednesday

This is my first week writing a Waiting on Wednesday post. It is hosted by the blog Breaking the Spine and I'm planning on participating most weeks unless I forget or I have a different post to do that day. Stay tuned and please follow!!!

This week is going to be The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski!!! I loved all the other books in the series and I absolutely cannot wait for this one to come out!!! The cover is so beautiful and I can only hope that Kestrel and Arin get their happy ending in it.

Synopsis from Goodreads:
War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it, with the East as his ally and the empire as his enemy. He’s finally managed to dismiss the memory of Kestrel, even if he can’t quite forget her. Kestrel turned into someone he could no longer recognize: someone who cared more for the empire than for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she cared for him. At least, that’s what he thinks.

But far north lies a work camp where Kestrel is a prisoner. Can she manage to escape before she loses herself? As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover unexpected roles in battle, terrible secrets, and a fragile hope. The world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and Kestrel and Arin are caught between. In a game like this, can anybody really win?

Doesn't that sound awesome? I need this book now and I don't think I'm going to survive the wait!!! The book is released March 2016 so be sure to read the first two books before then! I promise you will love them!

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Bridge is an accident survivor who's wondering why she's still alive. Emily has new curves and an almost-boyfriend who wants a certain kind of picture. Tabitha sees through everybody's games--or so she tells the world. The three girls are best friends with one rule: No fighting. Can it get them through seventh grade? This year everything is different for Sherm Russo as he gets to know Bridge Barsamian. What does it mean to fall for a girl--as a friend?
On Valentine's Day, an unnamed high school girl struggles with a betrayal. How long can she hide in plain sight?  

When I first got this book in the mail (thank you Penguin and Random House!) I had no idea what it was about. I had seen it on other blogs as part of BEA hauls but that's the only time I had every really heard about it. I was really surprised with how much I enjoyed it but I also had a few issues.

For a middle grade novel, this is really deep and realistic. It confronts the types of issues that tweens/teens are facing today and I loved how it didn't sugarcoat anything. It dealt with bullying, both cyber and otherwise, boy issues, and other things that come with growing up and changing. The author really seemed to know what she was talking about and actually seemed to have experienced these things. I have not read any of her other books, but after how great this one was I definitely will be.

My one main problem with this book was how naïve some of the characters were. Emily should have been more responsible with the pictures she took and I  also wish that Bridge would have been smarter concerning that event.  I understand that they are teens still finding out about the world but still. I think that they make this a good book for teens finding out what they maybe shouldn't do and its a good coming of age story. Yea, I know, my one negative with this book is sort of a learning experience type thing but still.

My favorite character had to be Sherm. I loved how he was still learning about himself and trying to forgive his grandfather for leaving him. I think this book had a cool angle on divorce and the whole "9,000 things about you" idea and it really helped me think about people breaking up and why they do it. I've never really thought about really WHY people get divorced since in this day and age it is a very common thing. It opened my eyes to the actual reasons there might be, other than just an argument or finding someone else. Its sometimes much deeper than that, things you didn't know about the other person until now, or things you just found you dislike. This is the perfect book for kids whose parents are divorced or getting divorced and it will not make them feel like it is their fault in any way.
This was a very moving book that I absolutely loved. I highly recommend it!!!

***I received an ARC of this book from Penguin Random House in exchange for my honest review. Huge thanks go out!!!***

Thanks for reading!
~Bri