“They say you should wear clean underwear in case you’re hit by a bus… they don’t warn you about what you wear over it though…”

Charlotte gets to spend eternity wearing her school uniform and a pair of her Mum’s shoes that she borrowed without permission. That’s pretty unfortunate. But what is truly unfortunate for Charlotte is that she was murdered. Now she is one of three members of the ‘Dead Girls Detective Agency’ (along with token male Edison) who solve the murders of their fellow teens. Dead Girls Walking is the second book in the Dead Girls Detective Agency series by Suzy Cox. This time the agency is working on solving the murder of budding actress Mercy Grant, who was killed just when she was in the middle of performing Hamlet.

It reprises its original characters well and the continuity is good. These teens were murdered, but rather than moving on to the next life they’ve stuck around to help other teens in the same predicament. The concept is fresh since the focus is on the ghost-side of things with a hint of the living. However, the author does try a little too hard to get the ‘teen speak’ down. If you haven’t read the first novel, it’s simple enough to pick up the plot and concept, which comes with pros and cons. In the positive, the characters are developed well enough, with good explanations of what has occurred in their past so that you can enjoy this novel without any prior knowledge. This is also a downside, as the novel isn’t as fresh as you would really like a sequel to be. The other battle going on is who is the star of the book. Charlotte who was our main character for book one, steals the limelight of our new victim Mercy, and their two stories collide somewhat haphazardly on the page.

Overall, the plot is fast moving, but there is a very large cliff-hanger that is sprung on the reader. While this makes the ending a little frustrating, it certainly intrigues you to want to check out the third novel. If you’re looking for a light read, Dead Girls Walking is a good choice. 

Right before reading Waiting on the Sidelines, I had to let out a big sigh and a couple of eye rolls. I was sick and tired of the same old ‘love’ story where the popular guy (with all the beautiful girls he could ever want swarming around him) falls for the not-so-popular average girl. Not only that, but he completely changes his ways for her, and becomes this ‘really good guy’.

BORING! I’m done with that!

Waiting on the Sidelines was that…but SO MUCH more!

The popular guy is this story is Reed Johnson. He’s a star footballer in his small town and has a lot of pressure and expectations weighing him down. Not only was his older brother a star quarter back, but so was his dad.

The not-so-popular girl in Waiting on the Sidelines is Nolan. She’s a complete tomboy. She loves wearing her brother’s hand-me-downs and has never worn any makeup. Nolan doesn’t fit in. Unlike most of the kids who attend her high school, she doesn’t live in a big mansion; instead, she lives in a trailer at the end of a dirt road, and she drives an old beat-up car that she absolutely loves.

Reed is used to girls trying to catch his attention by doing the dumbest things, but those girls don’t include Nolan. While she does admit he is very cute, Nolan isn’t stumbling around to be near Reed. He quickly notices this, and it’s what attracts him to Nolan.

High school seems to be running smooth for Reed, but for Nolan it’s been a struggle. She had no idea just how hard high school was going to be…but there might be one guy who can make it all worthwhile.

It’s true that I had my doubts at the beginning of this book, but those were quickly thrown out the door. While this book may have the general underlying script that I described above, it was so much more.

Reed acted like a normal teenage guy. Yes, he did start changing slowly throughout the book, but not all at once. He still made mistakes, he was still fooling around with girls, and he still acted the same way he did before he met Nolan. It took quite some time (the book takes place over four years) for him to finally open up to Nolan.

On the other hand, Nolan puts all her love and trust in Reed, just to have her heart broken repeatedly over the four years of high school. She knows she’s lucky to have a guy like Reed because of his gentle side, but Reed quickly learns that he is even luckier to have a girl like Nolan.

Reed and Nolan were amazing characters. They were real and acted like normal teenagers would. But I also really liked Reed’s dad and his housekeeping lady. While Reed’s dad was rich, he didn’t let the money get to his head. His relationship with Nolan, even when she was going through a rough patch with Reed, was really sweet! I loved him. Reed’s housekeeping lady was the mother he didn’t have. She was there when he was sick, when he was hungry, and even when his dad was working.

This was one of the sweetest and most heart-breaking stories I’ve read in a long time! All the emotions and feels I had for Waiting on the Sidelines were absolutely crazy! I was all over the place and constantly rooting for Reed and Nolan! Reed knows how to be sweet, and knows how to take care of Nolan, which I really liked.

While the entire story was a crazy rollercoaster of emotions (and tears), the ending was perfect! I’m excited to read more of Ginger Scott’s writing!

An all-new, edge-of-your seat adventure from James Dashner, the author of the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series, The Eye of Minds is the first book in The Mortality Doctrine, a series set in a world of hyperadvanced technology, cyberterrorists, and gaming beyond your wildest dreams . . . and your worst nightmares.

Michael is a gamer. And like most gamers, he almost spends more time on the VirtNet than in the actual world. The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and it’s addictive. Thanks to technology, anyone with enough money can experience fantasy worlds, risk their life without the chance of death, or just hang around with Virt-friends. And the more hacking skills you have, the more fun. Why bother following the rules when most of them are dumb, anyway?

But some rules were made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And recent reports claim that one gamer is going beyond what any gamer has done before: he’s holding players hostage inside the VirtNet. The effects are horrific—the hostages have all been declared brain-dead. Yet the gamer’s motives are a mystery.

The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker.
And they’ve been watching Michael. They want him on their team.
But the risk is enormous. If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid. There are back alleys and corners in the system human eyes have never seen and predators he can’t even fathom—and there’s the possibility that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever.

Hardcover, 308 pages

Published October 8th 2013 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

ISBN

0385741391 (ISBN13: 9780385741392)

The Eye of Minds is a great book for gamers and those interested in virtual reality. VirtNet is a gamer’s heaven that places you right into the fantasy world by putting your physical body into a sleep state while your mind goes on adventures. It’s an addictive and safe place where you can hang out with friends or have heart-racing experiences.

There is a rumour that one of the players has started taking hostages on the VirtNet and causing brain damage to those taken. This has the government searching for the hacker and they soon contact Michael for help.

The world building is amazing; since you’re put into this game world with the addition of hackers, it is an ever-changing world that goes beyond imagination. Michael spends little time in the ‘real world’, so the majority of the story takes place within the VirtNet.

I really enjoyed the characters as well. Both Michael and the villain stood out for me, and I loved both of them equally. The story doesn’t keeps a fast pace in the race to save the hostages, and there is also an eye-opening twist ending that I didn’t see coming.

I recommend this book to those who enjoy Michael Grant or Rush by Eve Silver. It is fast-paced and full of adventure, danger, and page-turning fun.

“Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father’s handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father’s madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island’s inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father’s dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it’s too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father’s genius—and madness—in her own blood.”

The Madman’s Daughter came out a while ago, and when everyone was picking it up and reading it, and raving about it, I knew I had to jump on the bandwagon! Just like everyone was claiming, this one was creepy, but I loved it!

This book was already had me scared within just the first few chapters, especially with the bunny scene! I don’t want to say too much, because I want you all to experience what I did, but it was absolutely bananas. I started feeling nauseous and dizzy while reading it, and that’s never happened to me before. I don’t know how or why this scene affected me so much, but I felt sick to my stomach.

The Madman’s Daughter was such a peculiar story. I can’t think of anything that can even slightly compare to this book. Obviously, this book is based off of another story, but I was still in complete awe. Her dad, who he was, what he did…it was mind blowing!

Alongside the main idea of the book, the characters were strange and intriguing too. Juliet is a teenage girl struggling to make small living and her father was a scientist who was shamed by society when he started these strange set of experiments on animals.

Montgomery is Juliet’s childhood servant and friend, who she reconnects with after her horrifying experience with the bunny rabbit. He isn’t the little boy Juliet knew all those years ago, but has grown into man. When Edward arrived at the ship on his wooden plank, he was this mysterious character who I wanted to learn more about. When these two (very cute) guys were introduced and Juliet seemed to be interested in both of them, I feared a love triangle. But, lucky me, there wasn’t much of that. There were a few small scenes here and there (which didn’t bother me at all), but they didn’t outshine or wash over the most important elements of the story!

Overall, The Madman’s Daughter was one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read. It even gave me goose bumps a few times throughout the story, and it was such an outstanding read. I’ve already picked up the second book, Her Dark Curiosity, and I’m excited to start it!

The future world has been divided into sectors–each the same as the other. Surrounded by thick steel fences, there is no way in and no way out. Yet a cyborg army penetrates each sector, picking off its citizens one by one, until no one is left. Behind the sectors’ thick walls, the citizens wait to die. Few will be chosen to survive what’s coming; the rest will be left behind to suffer. A new world has been created, and its rulers are incredibly selective on who will become a citizen. They want only those with important roles in society to help create a more perfect future.

Sixteen-year-old Sia lives in one of the sectors as part of a family that is far too ordinary to be picked to live. According to the digital clock that towers high above her sector, she has only fifteen days to live. Sia has seen the reports and knows a horrific death is in store for her, but she is determined to make the most of her final days. Sia refuses to mourn her short life, instead promising herself that she’ll stay strong, despite being suffocated by her depressed mother and her frightened best friend. Just when Sia feels more alone than ever, she meets Mace, a mysterious boy. There is something that draws Sia to him, despite his dangerousness, and together, they join a group of rebels and embark on an epic journey to destroy the new world and its machines, and to put an end to the slaughter of innocent people.

Hardcover, 256 pages

Published June 3rd 2014 by Sky Pony Press

First comes the wall and news of the new world, then comes the horrific news videos from destroyed towns. Soon the clock begins to tick down; if you have not been chosen by now, you will die.

It comes to no one’s surprise when the clock begins to count down the days. They have seen the broadcasts of the other sectors that have been destroyed. Some, like Sia’s mother, become obsessed with watching the news, fearing the future. Sia’s father practically disappears, rarely coming home and telling her he is working. Sia has her best friend, until her family wants her to spend more time in the house as the riots are going to start and they don’t want to see her harmed.

What she sees are some people being chosen and taken to the new world, while others just count the days until destruction. There is no way out because of the walls, and no use fighting because no one has ever survived. Sia does not want to sit and watch everything crumble around her. She gets the opportunity to share this feeling when a new boy appears and gives her a new view of the situation. Sia does not want to take things lying down. She wants to fight.

Sia is a courageous character, doing what no one else has done. Why not spend her last days taking action, instead of regretting doing nothing. The pace of the story is pretty fast and there are many events that take place in a short amount of time. The world building is imaginative, fun, and very sci-fi. People die, friends are made, lost connections regained, and possible love found in the darkest of times.

This is another adventurous survival story that found its way on my radar, and I do recommend it. I really enjoyed the world building, how the story came together, and the endless possibilities in what can happen next.