Remember to Forget

In Remember to Forget from Watty Award-winning author Ashley Royer, Levi has refused to speak since the tragic death of his girlfriend, Delia, and can't seem to come out of his depression and hindering self-doubt. Desperate to make some positive change in Levi’s life, his mother sends him to live with his father in Maine. Though the idea of moving from Australia to America seems completely daunting, Levi passively accepts his fate, but once he lands faces personal struggles and self-doubt at the same time he and his dad battle through resentment and misunderstanding. And then, while at therapy, Levi meets Delilah, a girl who eerily reminds him of someone he lost.

I received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book is about a boy, so overwhelmed by grief, that he no longer talks. 

At first I thought he was just being a spoiled child. How could he have been so in love with another person at such a young age. But the more I got to reading, the more I saw how much his life had been impacted. This story isn't so much about his loss, but about the road he took through his grief. 

I feel like I'm still on that road so many of the things he was thinking really rang true for me as well. I think that's why I loved the book so much.

Waterfall

The water is gone. The wars have begun. Clean water is a luxury most can no longer afford. Climate change, industrial sabotage, and greed have turned country against country as each one tries to provide for its citizens. Terrorist groups target desalinization plants and frustrated governments hunt those who work against them. Rationing, sequestering, and patrolling have become routine at a time when there are too many people and not enough resources. While the world around them disintegrates into chaos, Zach and Vivienne hope that their life in a government-run complex will retain some semblance of normalcy. But when attacks on their water supplies bring war to their sheltered community, they must accept their new fate. Stay and fight or flee and endure-it's a difficult decision with lasting consequences. Will they choose what's safe? Or will they choose to survive?

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My rating: one star out of five

I was beyond disappointed with this book. It started off so strong then you jump months and miss out what happens to have the main characters. Then it gets good again only to end so abruptly I was left wondering what happened.

Reflection: The Stranger in the Mirror

An Heiress, an ancient prophecy, and a masquerade...Nerissa, the Heiress of Chiyo, prepares for the masquerade celebrating the twentieth anniversary of a thwarted assassination attempt on her family. Longing to be admired for herself and not her title, she arranges to switch costumes and enjoy the ball in blissful anonymity. But, when the fateful night finally comes, a prophetic warning of a second attack arrives too late, and the evening turns from revelry and romance to violence. After being pulled from the chaos by an enigmatic guardian, Nerissa learns that the Royal Family has been concealing a formidable secret for generations--and it is only one of many that are about to be revealed.

Reflection: The Stranger in the Mirror is Book 1 of 4 in the first story arc of the Records of the Ohanzee series, which is written in a serialized style with a story line that flows continuously between books.

I received a copy of this e-book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. 

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This book started out wonderfully. I love the descriptions of the places and the people. I love the characters and genuinely cared about what would happen to them. 

About mid-way through is where it fell apart for me. The story took a quite sudden slowing. It was so frustrating. Not going to say much because I don't want to give away spoilers. I will say that it didn't have much of an ending. You are left with a cliff hanger and oh man do I hate cliffhangers. Overall I enjoyed the book, but not enough to re-read it. I will likely be picking up the next book in this saga, just to see what happens.

The Tempest Trilogy

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he's in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it's not like the movies — nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there's no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors — it's just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he's stuck in 2007 and can't get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it's not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these "Enemies of Time" will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he's willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

My rating: five of five stars

I freaking loved this book.

First of all, loved the concept. A time jumper is something new to me. 

Secondly, I love that this features a main character who is male. Refreshing for this genre. 

One thing I really didn't love was the ending. While it wasn't the ending I would have chosen, it was a good one for this story. I loved this book so much that I immediately reserved the rest in the trilogy. I totally recommend this to lovers of the YA dystopian novels.

Julie Cross's Vortex is the thrilling second installment of the Tempest series, in which the world hangs in the balance as a lovelorn Jackson must choose who to save.

Jackson Meyer has thrown himself into his role as an agent for Tempest, the shadowy division of the CIA that handles all time-travel-related threats. Despite his heartbreak at losing the love of his life, Jackson has proved himself to be an excellent agent. However, after an accidental run in with Holly—the girl he altered history to save—Jackson is once again reminded of what he's lost. And when Eyewall, an opposing division of the CIA, emerges, Jackson and his fellow agents not only find themselves under attack, but Jackson begins to discover that the world around him has changed and someone knows about his erased relationship with Holly, putting both their lives at risk all over again.

My rating: four of five stars

Vortex picked up right where Tempest left off. This would probably be my least favorite of the Tempest series. I just didn't connect as well with the story line and I hated that the end was so much of a cliffhanger. Definitely recommend getting all three books and reading them back to back. Though slower, this one was still a really good book.

The battle between the Tempest division and Eyewall comes to a shocking conclusion in this final installment of the Tempest trilogy, where the need for survival stretches the boundaries of history, both past and future, and the world Jackson once knew is a place forever marked by the detrimental effects of time travel.

As Jackson recovers from his brush with death, he’s surrounded not only by the people he loves most—his dad, Courtney, and Holly—he’s also amongst a few of the original time travelers. As he learns more about their life and how this world began, it becomes apparent that they need to put a stop to Thomas and Doctor Ludwig’s experimenting at Eyewall Headquarters. What starts out as an escape plan becomes a war between time and humanity, between freewill and peace. It’s the battle Jackson was born to fight and he’s not about to back down. Not for anything. Not for anyone.

My rating: five of five stars

What a fantastic ending to this trilogy. I loved this book! The way that all the loose ends from books 1 and 2 come together, just really fit for me. It worked out in a way that felt right. I can totally see myself reading this series again.

Wonder

I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.

August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. Wonder, begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others.

This book has been on my radar awhile. It's the story of a boy with "a terrible facial abnormality." You get the medical term later in the book, but it doesn't mean anything to most people. 

I have been following the blog of a woman whose daughter has had some facial surgeries. This made the book feel a lot more real to me. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The struggles that August deals with are very real. Even kids who aren't severely deformed get teased, I can't even imagine having a child who looked like that or being one!

This story was a look at his first year of school. He had never been before because his mom home-schooled him. In this book, the school goes above and beyond to make him more comfortable and feel welcome. But kids, being as they are, aren't that friendly toward him. Seeing the struggles he goes through and the joy he still has is wonderful. It was real to life, you could see the struggles that he was having and also how it hurt him for people to treat him differently. I loved that this book ends the way it does. Not going to give it away, but it gave me closure and left me feeling like there could more stories about August in his future. I one hundred percent loved this book. Whole heartedly recommend to everyone who has ever been a kid or has a kid.

This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl

A collection of the journals, fiction, letters, and sketches of the late Esther Grace Earl, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 16. Photographs and essays by family and friends will help to tell Esther’s story along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his #1 bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars to her.

My rating: four of five stars

This book is a story about a girl with thyroid cancer, but it is so much more than that. I love the style of this book. It is a compilation of Esther's journal posts, drawings, pictures and letters as well as updates posted by her parents. This book showed her life, what she loved, what she was passionate about. I love that it included lots of pictures. Esther lived a short but full life. Going in to the book I knew it would be sad, but I had to read about this girl who impacted so many lives in her short 16 years.

Fourth World

I was given a copy of the book by NetGalley in return for an honest review. This in no way influences my opinion. I finished this book today. I actually read the last three quarters this morning. Honestly. I could not put it down. Here is the synopsis from goodreads:

IAMOS, S.C.D. 8378 - Nadin's planet is dying. As its atmosphere drains away, her people are forced to live huddled in domed cities for protection. With only enough resources to support the population for one more year, time is running out. Nadin thinks she's found a way to save Iamos, but it will mean defying the planet's rulers, the geroi—and betraying the geroi could cost her everything.

When a strange boy from another world appears out of nowhere outside the citidome's glass walls, Nadin knows for sure that her plan will work. But to build the device that can save her people, Nadin must first find the legendary city of Elytherios. And to do that, she'll need the help of the mysterious alien boy named Isaak.

MARS, 2073 C.E. - All Isaak wanted was to get through his senior year at the Academy in one piece. Everything would have been fine if he hadn't found that ancient coin among his missing father's possessions. The coin seems to have a strange connection not only to Isaak's family, but to Mars' ancient past.

But how is that possible, on a planet that was supposed to be dead until just forty years ago?
Now Isaak's got agents of the Earth's government on his tail and a deranged factory worker stalking his every move. Everyone is desperate to get their hands on something called the Key. And the only way to escape is to unlock an even bigger secret, one that could change his life—and the fate of Mars—forever.

This book is another dystopian novel, which seems to be one of my favorites by my latest reading list. 

That is where the similarity to my latest reads ends. Not going to go in to much detail about the plot, don't want to give anything away. I will tell you that I enjoyed reading about these characters. You can see how Isaak grows throughout the book. He sees that there is something bigger then just him and his problems. It was enjoyable to see the story from the two viewpoints of Isaak and Nadin. 

They are two very different characters and give you important parts of the plot from their own views. 

One thing I hated about this book is that it doesn't give you any closure. It is most definitely part of a series. I dislike that it didn't end the book with some form of closure but it left you completely hanging. As a reader, you have to wait until this fall to see what happens.