Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2015

This feature is hosted by the ladies of The Broke and the Bookish

This week, I had to compile my list of the top books I've read in 2015. It was pretty easy since I haven't had a lot of amazing reads this year.

I divided up my list by genre, because I'm really detail oriented.

Go see what books I listed this week!

Contemporary

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga 

-This book surprised me in the best way possible. I loved it and gave it 5 stars-

Paperweight by Meg Haston

-This book is a book that will stay with me for a very long time. I gave this book 5 stars-

The Revenge Playbook by Rachael Allen

-Girl power! I loved this book so much. It enraged me, it made me laugh and it made me cry. I gave this book 5 stars-

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli 

This book may be my favorite LGBT book of the year. So adorable & nerdy. I gave this book 5 stars-

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

This book broke my heart into a thousand teeny pieces. I loved this book so hard and I gave it 5 stars-

The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

-This book utterly terrified me. It was so different than Doller's previous books, but so awesome. I gave it 5 stars- 

Fantasy

The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1) by Jodi Meadows

-It started off slowly, but I began to fall in love with it right around page 60. I gave it 4.5 stars-

The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1) by Renee Ahdieh

-THIS BOOK, GUYS! Oh my goodness, I adored this book. It was gorgeously written and had a swoon-worthy guy. I gave it 5 stars-

A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J. Maas

-Is there such a thing as heart eyes? Because this book, and particularly Lucien and Rhysand GAVE ME ALL THE SWOONS! I gave this book 5 stars-

Science Fiction

NIL Unlocked (NIL #2) by Lynne Matson

-So freaking fabulous. I adore this series and it just keeps getting better. I gave this book 5 stars-

Let me know if any of the books on my list are also on your list. Don't forget to leave the links to your TTT list this week.

Review: Salt & Stone (Fire & Flood #2) by Victoria Scott

Book Title: Salt & Stone

Author: Victoria Scott

Published Date: February 24th, 2015

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Genre: YA/SciFi

Series: Book Two of Fire & Flood series

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

What would you do to save someone you love? What about risking...everything?

In Fire & Flood, Tella Holloway faced a dangerous trek through the jungle and a terrifying march across the desert, all to remain a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed for a chance at obtaining the Cure for her brother. She can't stop—and in Salt & Stone, Tella will have to face the unseen dangers of the ocean, the breathless cold of a mountain, and the twisted new rules in the race.

But what if the danger is deeper than that? How do you know who to trust when everyone's keeping secrets? What do you do when the person you've relied on most suddenly isn't there for support? How do you weigh one life against another?

The race is coming to an end, and Tella is running out of time, resources, and strength. At the beginning of the race there were 122 Contenders. As Tella and her remaining friends start the fourth and final part of the race, just forty-one are left...and only one can win.

Victoria Scott's stunning thriller will leave readers' hearts racing!

Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC of this book from Scholastic via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

It's been such a long time since I visited this world! I reviewed Fire & Flood here, back in January of 2014. I really should have reread Fire and Flood before I read Salt and Stone. I had forgotten some of the details from the first book.

It took me a really long time to get into this book. I'm not exactly sure why it took me so long to get into it. Maybe it was just my mood, maybe I was bored? I'm just not sure. It finally started picking up at about page 160. When I hit that part, I had a very hard time putting it back down.

I still loved Tella, and in fact her growth in this book was really awesome. She was able to stand on her own two feet even when Guy was not around.  Guy was every bit as swoony as he was in Fire and Flood. He could get a little aggravating, but I loved how things turned out for them in the end.

I also really liked Harper this time around. She was complicated and fascinating. I was glad to see more of her given how things were for her in the first book. Willow, Olivia, Braun and the rest of them were captivating. A new character by the name of Cotton was very interesting and I couldn't figure out if he was a good person or a bad person. I spent the entire book trying to figure it out.

I'm still madly in love with Pandoras. I wish they were real. Madox and his loyalty to Tella was awesome. It was awesome to see all the different Pandoras. Lions, alligators, bears, iguanas just to mention a few. There was a few stressful moments involving Pandoras that actually got me in the feels.

Because I took so long getting into this book, I have to give it 4 stars. I did enjoy the story a lot once I finally got into it, it just took awhile for me to get into it. I am so excited that I got to read this book and I am going to miss these characters.

Review: NIL Unlocked (NIL #2) by Lynne Matson

Book Title: NIL Unlocked

Author: Lynne Matson

Published Date: May 12th, 2015

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.

Genre: YA/Science Fiction

Series: Book 2 in NIL trilogy

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

On the island of Nil, the rules are set. You have exactly 365 days to escape—or you die. Rives is now the undisputed Leader of Nil City, but keeping the City united is tougher than ever.

Raiders have grown bolder, supplies are dwindling, and non-human inhabitants have taken a turn toward the deadly. New arrivals cause rifts within the City, putting the Search system at risk, and calling everything Rives knows into question. Desperate for answers, he teams up with the only other person searching for them: Skye, a new arrival with a mysterious past of her own. Soon the duo find themselves locked in a desperate race to save all the residents of Nil—and possibly destroy the island forever. But at what cost? And who will pay the price?

Disclaimer: I won this book in a giveaway.

Review:

Holy crap, I didn't expect NIL Unlocked to be better than NIL, but it was!

I didn't mention this in my review of NIL, but my only criticism was that we didn't get any information on the history of NIL and how it came to be or any other kind of backstory on NIL. Thankfully, in NIL Unlocked, I got some answers. I got answers about NIL and how it worked. In some ways, this was my favorite part of the book.

We wouldn't have known anything about NIL if it weren't for Skye. NIL wasn't a mystery to Skye and although I'd love to say more on that front, I can't because of how spoilery it would end up being and I really want to avoid spoilers as much as I can. Skye was awesome though and as much as I loved Charley in book one, I loved Skye equally.

As fascinating as Skye was, I was very curious about Rives. I had loved him in NIL and was excited to see what was in store for him. I had loved Thad, but I think I actually loved Rives more. I'm not sure exactly why, but Rives was awesome and he was a leader and he had a whole lot of strength.

Unlike with Charley & Thad, Skye and Rives' romance didn't start until the book was nearly over and I think I liked that better. I love slow burn romances and Skye & Rives fit that to a T. Truthfully though, I do wonder if Skye's NIL knowledge was really what attracted Rives to her. Yeah maybe that's a bit cynical, but I wonder if Rives would have fallen for her if she didn't have this "insider information"

The secondary characters were once again, awesome. I loved Jillian and Dex especially and it was because of them, that the ending of this book had me pretty much sobbing into the pages. I wasn't expecting the feels to be quite as intense in the second book, but in many ways, the feels were more intense. I don't know how Lynne Matson does it.

I loved this book even more than I loved book one and I will be ordering a finished copy of this book soon. Needless to say, I'm giving it 5 stars and I cannot wait to see where the story leads in the final book.

Review: NIL (NIL #1) by Lynne Matson

Book Title: NIL

Author: Lynne Matson

Published Date: March 4th, 2014

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.

Genre: YA/Science Fiction

Series: Book One in NIL trilogy.

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

On the mysterious island of Nil, the rules are set. You have one year. Exactly 365 days--to escape, or you die.

Seventeen-year-old Charley doesn’t know the rules. She doesn’t even know where she is. The last thing she remembers is blacking out, and when she wakes up, she’s lying naked in an empty rock field.

Lost and alone, Charley finds no sign of other people until she meets Thad, the gorgeous leader of a clan of teenage refugees. Soon Charley learns that leaving the island is harder than she thought . . . and so is falling in love. With Thad’s time running out, Charley realizes that to save their future, Charley must first save him. And on an island rife with dangers, their greatest threat is time.

Disclaimer: I own this book.

Review:

I honestly had no idea what to expect with this book. I had really high hopes for it, but wasn't sure if it would deliver. And for a little while, I wasn't sure it would. It was a bit slow in the beginning, which worried me. But by the time I reached page 80, it had picked up and I was captivated by the story. Plus, if it's going to be compared to my all time favorite TV show, LOST, then the chances are pretty high that I'll fall in love with it.

I had a hard time trying to figure out what genre I'd put this book in. It was obviously YA, but there were several sub-genres that I could have put it in. There was romance, there were paranormal elements and there was science fiction. In some ways, I find these kind of books the most compelling because there are multiple elements involved and they each do their part to tell the story.

Even though Charley & Thad were considered the main characters, I really loved Natalie. She was so vulnerable, so realistic. I loved how she trusted Thad and Charley despite all of the craziness going on. She cared about all of NIL's inhabitants. She had a good heart, a caring heart.

NIL itself was interesting. Not only was it an island but it also seemed to be personified. I'd never seen this in a book before, so that was captivating. Was NIL also a person or was she seemingly personified because of the mental health of all the inhabitants.

"To NIL we come, from NIL, some go, and some like me, will stay. The clock winds down, our time runs out, and NIL will have her way."

That is probably the creepiest song I've ever heard. Legitimate shivers. Not a lot was said about Ramia, but I was so, so curious about her. I actually had some theories about her and her connection to NIL. I probably spent a bit too much time thinking about her and her possible connection to NIL.

Now Charley & Thad. I understand that a lot of people were a bit iffy on how quickly things developed between them, but this wasn't typical life. They were on an island for goodness sakes. It's not like they had a million other life things to attend to, Yeah they were off searching for gates and even newcomers, but there was more time to develop a relationship. I liked them together, I rooted for them to get together and that is a great feeling to be able to do.

"You're right, Charley. NIL does change the way you see things. NIL makes everything more clear. What's important, what matters. And for me, that's you."

This book stressed me out completely. I can't exactly say why it did, as it could be considered very spoilery, and I really don't want to ruin it for others. But, I absolutely loved it and highly recommend it. I am giving it 5 stars and I cannot wait to read NIL Unlocked, which I'll be starting ASAP.

Review: The Cage (The Cage #1) by Megan Shepherd

Book Title: The Cage

Author: Megan Shepherd

Published Date: May 26th, 2015

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Genre: YA Science Fiction

Series: Book One in The Cage trilogy

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The Maze Runner meets Scott Westerfeld in this gripping new series about teens held captive in a human zoo by an otherworldly race. From Megan Shepherd, the acclaimed author of The Madman's Daughter trilogy.

When Cora Mason wakes in a desert, she doesn't know where she is or who put her there. As she explores, she finds an impossible mix of environments—tundra next to desert, farm next to jungle, and a strangely empty town cobbled together from different cultures—all watched over by eerie black windows. And she isn't alone.

Four other teenagers have also been taken: a beautiful model, a tattooed smuggler, a secretive genius, and an army brat who seems to know too much about Cora's past. None of them have a clue as to what happened, and all of them have secrets. As the unlikely group struggles for leadership, they slowly start to trust each other. But when their mysterious jailer—a handsome young guard called Cassian—appears, they realize that their captivity is more terrifying than they could ever imagine: Their captors aren't from Earth. And they have taken the five teenagers for an otherworldly zoo—where the exhibits are humans.

As a forbidden attraction develops between Cora and Cassian, she realizes that her best chance of escape might be in the arms of her own jailer—though that would mean leaving the others behind. Can Cora manage to save herself and her companions? And if so . . . what world lies beyond the walls of their cage?

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Harper Collins via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I was nervous about this book because I didn't enjoy The Madman's Daughter trilogy. I wanted to give Shepherd another chance to impress me. This book looked like something I'd love, so I was also excited.

This book really surprised me in the best way. It was fascinating, and the world building was really well done. I was nervous about the world building because it can either be really awesome and help contribute to the story, or it can be underdeveloped and ruin the story. I could picture the different enclosures and the people well.

Cora, Lucky, Nok, Leon and Rolf are already one member short when the book opens, the sixth member of their little group is dead, and for awhile we don't know what happened to her. That question is eventually answered as are countless more questions.

There are three rules in this place:

1. Solve the enrichment puzzles

2. Maintain their health by eating the food provided, get enough sleep and cooperate in routine health assessments.

3. Engage in procreative activities to ensure the continuation of the species.

If they do not complete all three steps in 21 days, they will be removed from the enclosure. We don't find out until much later where they end up if they don't cooperate.

Cassian was interesting and I'm not 100% sure I trust him at this point in the story. He knows far more than Cora or any of the others do at this point and he's very reluctant to share what he knows, even with Cora. He does bend the rules at times, so you start to think that he's caught between a rock and a hard place. He seems to care for Cora by the time the book ends, but like I said, I'm not sure I trust him yet.

Now Mali was so freaking fascinating, I actually liked her the best out of all the characters. She was so mysterious and intriguing. I was never quite sure whose side she was on, if she was really as messed up as she seemed. So getting parts of the story from her point of view was awesome and I actually wished there was more of her in the story.

The writing style was interesting. It had been a long time since I had read something in third person present tense, so I was worried I wouldn't be able to get invested in the story. Thankfully the story itself was captivating and I had no issues with the way it was written.

I was really impressed by this book. I was hooked from the beginning and I never wanted to put it down. It was such a unique story, and I cannot wait for book 2 to come out. It's going to be a long wait until then. I am giving this book 4.5 stars. It was nearly perfect and I would recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction.

Review: The Replaced (The Taking #2) by Kimberly Derting

Book Title: The Replaced

Author: Kimberly Derting

Published Date: April 28th, 2015

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre: YA Science Fiction

Series: Book Two in The Taking trilogy

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Romantic and action-packed, The Replaced is the gripping second installment in the Taking trilogy.

Kyra hasn't been the same since she returned from her mysterious five-year disappearance. Now, on the run from the NSA, Kyra is forced to hide out with others who, like her, have been Returned. Yet she is determined to find Tyler, the boy she loves who was also abducted—all because of her. When her group intercepts a message that Tyler might still be alive but is in the hands of a shadowy government organization that experiments on the Returned, Kyra knows it's a risk to go after him. What if it's a trap? And worse, what if the returned Tyler isn't the same boy she lost? 

Perfect for fans of The Fifth Wave and the Body Finder series, The Replaced is both chilling and explosive, with creepy, otherworldly elements and twisty, psychological thrills that will have you questioning what exactly it means to be human.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from HarperTeen via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

Can I just leave this review at "holy crap, it was awesome. Read it!"

No, probably not. Holy moly this book was so freaking awesome. I initially couldn't remember some of these people and events from The Taking and was kicking myself for not doing a reread of book one, but The Replaced does a good job of reminding us all what happened in The Taking. 

Kyra has now lost her father and the boy she loves. They were both taken right at the end of the Taking and The Replaced picks up not too long afterwords. We end up meeting several new people throughout the course of this book. Some of these people end up being very important and some end up simply being extras.

There were secrets galore in this entire book. Every 20% or so I'd be freaking out and having to put the book down & calm down before I continued reading. There is one character that you start feeling one way about and then later on your feelings on this character change completely. I was never sure how I felt about this character.

There starts to be a love triangle in this one, and honestly, I kinda liked it. I liked the 2nd guy who was involved in this triangle and I kept hoping it would go the way I wanted it to. They seemed like a great match.

I hate being so secretive and vague about this book, but so much of this book was a big giant spoiler that I really can't talk about, and it's driving me batty. It was going to take a lot for me to enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed The Taking and actually I think I enjoyed this one MORE than I enjoyed The Taking. I never expected to say that.

Honestly it was the ending that sealed it for me. So shocking, so mind boggling and it left me wondering how I am going to wait for the third and final book in the series. I am giving this book 5 stars, and if you haven't read these books yet, you need to rectify that immediately.

Review: Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin

Book Title: Denton Little's Deathdate

Author: Lance Rubin

Published Date: April 14th, 2015

Publisher: Random House Children's

Genre: YA, Science Fiction

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Fans of John Green and Matthew Quick: Get ready to die laughing.

Denton Little's Deathdate takes place in a world exactly like our own except that everyone knows the day they will die. For 17-year-old Denton Little, that's tomorrow, the day of his senior prom.

Despite his early deathdate, Denton has always wanted to live a normal life, but his final days are filled with dramatic firsts. First hangover. First sex. First love triangle (as the first sex seems to have happened not with his adoring girlfriend, but with his best friend's hostile sister. Though he's not totally sure. See: first hangover.) His anxiety builds when he discovers a strange purple rash making its way up his body. Is this what will kill him? And then a strange man shows up at his funeral, claiming to have known Denton's long-deceased mother, and warning him to beware of suspicious government characters…. Suddenly Denton's life is filled with mysterious questions and precious little time to find the answers.

Debut author Lance Rubin takes us on a fast, furious, and outrageously funny ride through the last hours of a teenager's life as he searches for love, meaning, answers, and (just maybe) a way to live on.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Random House Children's via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I don't know about you, but I've always been morbidly curious about death. I gotta say that if I got to find out when I was going to die, I'd be relieved. I mean as of right now, we don't know when our time will come. So, in that way, I was envious of everyone living in Denton's world. They all knew when they'd die.

The beginning of the story started off really interesting. We meet Denton the day before his deathday where he will attend his funeral and then the sitting, where everyone basically sits around and waits for the person to keel over.

Quickly, we realize that there's a lot of drama going on. Apparently Denton had sex the night before, for the first time. That in itself isn't drama filled, but the fact that it was with his best friend's sister is. Denton's been dating the same girl for awhile, but she isn't the one he had sex with. So there ya go, typical teenage drama right from the start.

Denton is quirky and unique, but as the book goes on, things continue to go from just odd, to absolutely outrageous, and inconceivable. Normally reading books about how shit hits the fan unexpectedly is at least mildly interesting to me. But this time it was just too much and too fast. I barely got over one surprise in the book before another one showed up. 

I liked Denton, his girlfriend and his best friend, they were usually pretty funny, and to be honest, they saved the book for me. The other characters felt very flat to me, which really bummed me out because that tells me the author didn't flesh them out enough.

The pacing was very uneven. Sometimes things would be going at a decent pace and then shit would hit the fan and it would speed up, only to slow back down a chapter or two later. I wouldn't say this was a bad book, but I was overall very indifferent to it. So I'm going to give this book 3 stars. I'm not sure I'd recommend this book.

A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird #1) by Claudia Gray

Book Title: A Thousand Pieces of You

Author: Claudia Gray

Published Date: November 4th, 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre: YA SciFi

Series: Book 1 in Firebird trilogy

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from HarperTeen via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

"The Firebirds allow me to travel through dimensions, but not through time."

That quote above is a very clear and concise description of the Firebird and reading that was very helpful to me. So many science fiction books don't explain things well, or if they do explain them, the explanation is overly complex and makes it hard to follow. Gray was able to boil it down to the basics which was great to see and it helped me enjoy the book more because I understood what was going on.

I was worried that this book wouldn't work for me. I love parallel universe stories, but the cover of this book was so stunning, I was afraid that the book wouldn't match the gorgeous cover. I am so glad to say that I was wrong, and really wrong. 

A Thousand Pieces of You is slow in the beginning and normally that would bother me a lot, but I stuck with it because I wanted to give this book some time to really hook me. Right around page 60, it really began to pick up and from that point on I was fascinated by the world, or rather, worlds that Gray had created in this story.

I don't know which boy to trust at this point. I don't like Theo all that much and I do like Paul. I'm just not sure if I like him with Marguerite. Marguerite is a bad ass on her own and I do think she's in love with Paul and that he is in love with her as well. I'm just not sure if the book really needed the romance or if it would have been stronger without it.

"I fell in love with one Paul. I fell in love with his unchanging soul. Does that mean I fell in love with every Paul, everywhere?"

I do think Paul has goodness in his heart, but I think Marguerite is conflicted due to the things that happen throughout the book. Things that she can't answer. Questions that plague her mind every single day. She begins to question what actually happened to her father. She begins to second guess everything that everyone is telling her, in every dimension.

A Thousand Pieces of You is a wild ride that will take readers on an adventure through multiple universes. I really enjoyed this one and I cannot wait to see where it goes next. 4 stars to this captivating book with captivating characters. I would completely recommend this book to lovers of science fiction.

Review: The Memory Key by Liana Liu

Book Title: The Memory Key

Author: Liana Liu

Published Date: March 3rd, 2015

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre: YA Science Fiction

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In a five-minutes-into-the-future world, a bereaved daughter must choose between losing memories of her mother to the haze of time and the reality-distorting, visceral pain of complete, perfect recall.


Lora Mint is determined not to forget.

Though her mother’s been dead for five years, Lora struggles to remember every detail about her—most importantly, the specific events that occurred the night she sped off in her car, never to return.

But in a world ravaged by Vergets disease, a viral form of Alzheimer’s, that isn’t easy. Usually Lora is aided by her memory key, a standard-issue chip embedded in her brain that preserves memories just the way a human brain would. Then a minor accident damages Lora’s key, and her memories go haywire. Suddenly Lora remembers a moment from the night of her mother’s disappearance that indicates her death was no accident. Can she trust these formerly forgotten memories? Or is her ability to remember every painful part of her past driving her slowly mad—burying the truth forever?

Lora’s longing for her lost mother and journey to patch up her broken memories is filled with authentic and poignant emotion. Her race to uncover the truth is a twisty ride. In the end, Liana Liu’s story will spark topical conversations about memory and privacy in a world that is reliant on increasingly invasive forms of technology.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from HarperTeen via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

This book had a lot of potential to be something truly thought provoking and interesting, and for the most part, I was definitely intrigued and interested in what was going on and what Lora remembered about her mother.

The idea of Verget's being a viral form of Alzheimer's was very interesting to me. I wasn't exactly sure how it would work, but I was definitely fascinated by the possibility of it. We think of Alzheimer's as something that old people get, and that there's no real virus or bacteria that causes it. Having Verget's changes all that.

Lora has never doubted the fact that her mother died in a car crash on her way to work. That's what she's always believed and she's trusted her father and Aunt Austin to have told her the truth about everything. When she gets a minor injury though, things go haywire and suddenly she's forced to examine the idea that her mother's death was no accident and that it was probably caused by the people at Keep Corp.

Then the questions continue to fly around her head, and she wonders who she can trust? Can she trust her longtime best friend Wendy and her brother, Tim, who Lora has had a crush on for years. Can she trust the new boy, Raul? Can she even trust her family? As the book continues on, she gets answers questions.

This book really could have been awesome if it weren't for the very choppy pace of the book. The first 50% I found to be really slow and I nearly decided not to finish it. I was intrigued, but I wasn't intrigued enough. Now the 2nd half of the book was a little better for me, but it was also increasingly choppy. Some parts were really intriguing and some parts were very boring which lead me to skim the book a little bit.

My feelings about this book are very conflicted. It wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't read it again. It was intriguing for a one time read. So I'm going to give it 3 stars. Maybe that's a bit lazy, but I can't give it anything else because it doesn't fit any other rating. I would recommend it because the science fiction parts are interesting, but if you aren't patient or if you hate books that are very choppy, then I'd skip it.

Review: The Murder Complex (The Murder Complex #1) by Lindsay Cummings

Book Title: The Murder Complex (The Murder Complex #1)

Author: Lindsay Cummings

Published Date: June 10th, 2014

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Genre: YA Science Fiction

Series: Book One in The Murder Complex Trilogy

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Greenwillow Books via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I was so excited about this book when I first downloaded it from Edelweiss. It seemed right up my alley. But when I finally got a chance to sit down and read it, I was only mildly interested in it. I was liking the characters names. I'm obsessed with the name Zephyr now. I want to name everything Zephyr.

But the character development was totally lacking. I wanted more character development for Zephyr & Meadow. I also didn't really feel the chemistry between them which really bummed me out. I felt like they were only good friends and that was it. There was no sizzling chemistry, I didn't root for them to kiss. Actually, I think the book would have been much stronger without the romance. Usually I don't say that. In fact I think I've only said it once before. Some books are much stronger without the romance.

I had a lot of hope for the world building and I hate to admit that I was disappointed. I felt like more care & attention should be paid to the world building. Especially when it's a science fiction or a dystopian world. It's the author's job to make the reader feel like they're in the world they are reading about. Unfortunately Cummings' attempts at world building were not as good as I was hoping they would be.

I hate being disappointed by books, but I didn't enjoy The Murder Complex like I thought I would. Giving it 2 stars is very difficult for me, but this book just wasn't for me and I won't be continuing the series. 

Stacking the Shelves #49

This feature is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

I only got one book for review this week but I picked up four books from the library. Three contemporaries and one fantasy/science fiction. Keep reading to see what books I added to my shelves.

Bought

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Received For Review

-NetGalley-

Since You've Been Gone by Mary Jennifer Payne

Won

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Gifted

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Library Books

The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle

The Queen of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #1) by Erika Johansen 

Ink (Paper Gods #1) by Amanda Sun

Jellicoe Road by Melinda Marchetta

As always, be sure to leave me the links to your Stacking the Shelves post or vlogs so I can stop by and check out what you got this week. Be sure to tell me what books you've read already or anything you are looking forward to reading. Have an amazing week!

Review: Noggin by John Corey Whaley

Book Title: Noggin

Author: John Corey Whaley

Published Date: April 8th, 2014

Publisher: Atheneum Books For Young Readers

Genre: YA Science Fiction/Contemporary

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Listen — Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn’t.

Now he’s alive again.

Simple as that.

The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but he can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he’s still 16 and everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she’s not his girlfriend anymore? That’s a bit fuzzy too.

Looks like if the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, then there are going to be a few more scars.

Oh well, you only live twice.

Disclaimer: Library book.

Review:

Eeeeeep! This book was such an awesome treat. It was quirky, interesting and it managed to combine science fiction elements with a contemporary feel. I really wasn't sure how I'd feel about it because I am so picky about my science fiction stories and this one seemed so out there that I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. I mean come on, a kid's head is sawed off of his body after death and then it's stored in the freezer of a cryogenic facility in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, they are able to reattach the head to a donor body and magically Travis wakes up?

Doesn't that sound just a bit far fetched?

It definitely did to me, but I fell for the characters. For Travis's family he was basically gone for 5 years, but to Travis it feels like only seconds have passed. Suddenly everything is different, his best friend Kyle retreated back into the closet, Travis's longtime love Cate is now engaged to another guy and Kyle's sister, who five years ago, was a gangly 9 year old has transformed into something of a hottie.

It was Travis's voice that hooked me. He was desperately trying to find his place in the world again. Yes, he was a little obsessive about Cate and that did drive me a little batty, but I had to keep reminding myself that he had been gone for 5 years, but to Travis it felt like he had only been gone a nanosecond. He was trying to reclaim his friendship with Kyle even though he didn't understand what had happened to Kyle. Why had Kyle slipped back into the closet?

I really enjoyed this book, but I felt like the ending was a bit rushed. I wanted a little more resolution in the end. It felt very open ended and while I can see why that was done, I craved more. Craving more is definitely the mark of a great book. I going to give this book 4 stars. I definitely need to buy myself a copy of this book.