Book Review: Menagerie

 MENAGERIE (Menagerie #1) By Rachel Vincent

From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent comes a richly imagined, provocative new series set in the dark mythology of the Menagerie…

When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger's Menagerie, she is an ordinary woman in a not-quite-ordinary world. But under the macabre circus black-top, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah in her black swan burlesque costume is stripped of her worldly possessions, including her own name, as she's forced to "perform" in town after town.

But there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival. Gallagher, her handler, is as kind as he is cryptic and strong. The other "attractions"—mermaids, minotaurs, gryphons and kelpies—are strange, yes, but they share a bond forged by the brutal realities of captivity. And as Delilah struggles for her freedom, and for her fellow menagerie, she'll discover a strength and a purpose she never knew existed.

Renowned author Rachel Vincent weaves an intoxicating blend of carnival magic and startling humanity in this intricately woven and powerful tale. 

Hardcover, 432 pages

Published September 29th 2015 by MIRA

Review

Menagerie is an out of this world stunning new series by Rachel Vincent.

Delilah Marlow is about to get into a twisted nightmare reality . . .

Living in the Menagerie world, there's no rights, no free will, nothing to call your own except yourself

Come into Menagerie and witness the most amazing show you have ever seen! 

Menagerie is dark and creativity written with awe inspiring descriptive details

Can you maintain your sanity? 

I give this an Purrrfect rating, I love the details, I love the storyline and I can't wait for more! 

MEOW . . .MEOW . . . MEOW

.
Menagerie really has unique elements of mythical creatures that walks in the modern world with a touch of dystopian.  The book has multiple POVs but primary its all focused on Delilah Marlow who learns that she is something that is not ordinary, normal or even classified as a known species.

Struggling with the whirlwind changes, being stuck in an world of grits and grime and no freedom. Delilah need to learn how to readjust and FAST before she ends up somewhere far worst than her current situation.  small size metal cage and being

Menagerie really is unlike anything I have ever read, sure there's books that surrounds mythology and folktales but no one has really harness an descriptive story like Rachel did.  Plus putting it in an circus/carnival theme, Rachel loves writing scary stories. What's scary about Menagerie is that if you're not human then you belong to the Menagerie.

The Menagerie is your worst nightmare . . . Outside of Menagerie it's the most beautiful and unique show you could ever see but what lies behind the scenes?

Other characters you will find have their own unique stories and even strange situations. What would you do to maintain your sanity and your will?

Now because this book was listed mistakenly as an YA, it's not in fact YA. When I read this book part of it was very raw and gut-wrenching almost too much to handle but if you can look past that and enjoy the details as well the wide-range of mythical creatures you never heard of before and it all in one place!

Overall I love this book, I just got my Hardcover copy in today and it's beautiful. I'll for sure reread this book again before Masquerade comes out.

Hide & Seek: Dead of Night

COVER REVEAL

DEAD OF NIGHT book one of the Aftershock Novels

AUTHOR : Carlyle Labuschagne

PUBLISHER: Fire Quill Publishing

Dead of night has be re signed to Firequill Publshing

with new edits and a new subplot.

Releasing soon!

Blurb:

In a dark and desolated After Earth, love still does exist, but the cost of bearing such a flaw is death.


World War III has left Earth in utter turmoil. People’s beliefs are said to be the cause of the worldwide destruction. After The Clearing new laws are set about - to show certitude in anything besides the law is weak and chargeable as mutiny. To be illogical and have faith in religion is illegal, to be limitless is dangerous. And Illness is seen as a defect – all flaws that are inexcusable.
But to love is the greatest betrayal of all man kind. It is a fault the world has long forgotten and punishable by death, a fatal risk Aecker and Opel are fully prepared to take - because in love there is freedom. But how far can they push back before it claims their lives and of those they care about?

Follow the author

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carlyle-Labuschagne/189835811074342

Twitter https://twitter.com/CarlyleL

Instagram https://instagram.com/carlylelab/

Website www.carlylelabuschagne.com

Book Review: The Stars Never Rise

The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent

Sixteen-year-old Nina Kane should be worrying about her immortal soul, but she's too busy trying to actually survive. Her town's population has been decimated by soul-consuming demons, and souls are in short supply. Watching over her younger sister, Mellie, and scraping together food and money are all that matters. The two of them are a family. They gave up on their deadbeat mom a long time ago.

When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their very existence, she'll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal Church and its army of black-robed exorcists. And Mellie's sin has put her in serious trouble.

To keep them both alive, Nina will need to trust Finn, a fugitive with deep green eyes who has already saved her life once and who might just be an exorcist. But what kind of exorcist wears a hoodie?

Wanted by the Church and hunted by dark forces, Nina knows she can't survive on her own. She needs Finn and his group of rogue friends just as much as they need her.

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published June 9th 2015 by Delacorte Press

Review

You abide to the Church, you confess your sins, you repent yours sins.

If you commit a sin keep it discreet . . . OR ELSE

Nina Kane grew up thinking that she would devote herself to the Church but then something happen, something unexplained

She's an EXORCIST, an natural born Exorcist but being just that can get her on the most wanted list

Nina get saved by the mysterious green-eyes FINN but her sister Melanie gets left behind

Now it's a rescue to save her sister before its too late but getting to her will be a little tricky, can Nina save her sister in time? 

What lies under the secrets of the Church?

I give this an 4.5 Cat's Tails Up, Rachel Vincent wrote a wonderful sinful dystopian world for The Stars Never Rise.

MEOW . . . MEOW . . . MEOW

Whoo! The book is out and of course it made it on the top to read reading list, and I'm glad I made this book a priority.

So what did I think?!?! Rachel wrote a world where even I was terrified! And a whole bunch of demon possessing going around. It has a mixture of Supernatural and The Walking Dead in a good way.

Nina Kane is an 16 year old girl whose about to get the biggest realization about the Church and herself, Nina was about ready to devote herself to the Church until her younger sister Melanie gets KNOCKED UP, while they scrap for items and food. The last thing Nina need is her sister getting knocked up, and with their mother slowly declining in health only to find out that their mother is a DEMON!!!

The realization kicks in where your Demon mother has had plans for you and having it all fall through the cracks raise up ugly stuff. Nina defends her sister and attack their demon mom only when Nina is about to lose the fight, an strange glow lights up from her hands and the demon mother is no more.

Then the mysterious Green-eye exorcist appears that save her a few nights ago from a dengerate and now at her house. He tells her that she need to leave her sister behind and come with him, but how can you leave your sister for a stranger? Nina runs with the mysterious Green-Eye . . .

Who is this mysterious Green-Eye Boy?

Well first his name is just AWESOME! And his name is FINN.

Mysterious is the correct word to describe Finn but he's also very compassionate towards everyone he's around especially with Nina BUT Finn is a whole different kind of individual to describe. I think many people will love Finn when they read The Stars Never Rises but they'll be left wondering one thing about him. Something extremely unique.

The world that Rachel built is so beyond scary and wonderfully done, with everything being run by the Church. You abide to the Church rules or get Anathema. If you are under suspicious of demon possession, you are taken in to the Church and is "Exorcist" but there's a greater problem that lies within the Church.

YOU ARE NOT SAFE WITH THE CHURCH!!!!!!

With a small group that Finn is with along with Nina now, she learn the truth and turns out the only places that are considered "safe" is the badlands where tons of demons, dengerates lies. But it's their only option to get away from the corrupt Church. What will they face once they enter the Badlands? More Anathemas, more exorcists? More Demons?

I can't wait for The Flame Never Dies!!!!! On another note, the cover for The Stars Never Rise is beautiful and I honestly envision book two of a butterfly in flames or flame colors.

Cover Reveal: Unleashed

It's Friday! and today I'm happy to spread the love of Sophie Jordan's Uninvited series, Unleashed Cover Reveal!

I love love Uninvited! It was one of the best thriller/Science-fiction/Dystopia book I have ever read and the concept and theme of the book was actually fresh for the YA readers community. 

Here's my review of Uninvited

So first here's an mini-teaser

 

I thought being labeled a killer and losing everything—my future, family, boyfriend, friends—was the worst thing that could ever happen to me. It’s not. Finding out they were right. Finding out that’s exactly what I am?

That’s worse.

Now for the Cover and Synopsis 

What if the worst thing you ever did was unforgivable?

Davy’s world fell apart after she tested positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome. She was expelled from her school, dumped by her boyfriend, abandoned by friends, and shipped off to a camp that turns HTS carriers into soldiers. Davy may have escaped, but the damage has already been done. The unthinkable has happened. Now, even worse than having everyone else see her as a monster is the knowledge that they may have been right about her all along. Because Davy has killed.

On the run from government agents, Davy is rescued by Caden, the charismatic leader of an underground group of rebels. Despite Caden’s assurances that the Resistance is made up of carriers like her, Davy isn’t sure she can trust them. Then again, she doesn’t even know if she can trust herself . . . or her growing feelings for Caden. But if she doesn’t belong with Caden and his followers, is there anywhere she can call home?

Currenlty Reading

Fragments (Partials #2) By Dan Well

Kira Walker has found the cure for RM, but the battle for the survival of humans and Partials is just beginning. Kira has left East Meadow in a desperate search for clues to who she is. That the Partials themselves hold the cure for RM in their blood cannot be a coincidence--it must be part of a larger plan, a plan that involves Kira, a plan that could save both races. Her companions are Afa Demoux, an unhinged drifter and former employee of ParaGen, and Samm and Heron, the Partials who betrayed her and saved her life, the only ones who know her secret. But can she trust them?

Meanwhile, back on Long Island, what's left of humanity is gearing up for war with the Partials, and Marcus knows his only hope is to delay them until Kira returns. But Kira's journey will take her deep into the overgrown wasteland of postapocalyptic America, and Kira and Marcus both will discover that their greatest enemy may be one they didn't even know existed.

The second installment in the pulse-pounding Partials saga is the story of the eleventh hour of humanity's time on Earth, a journey deep into places unknown to discover the means--and even more important, a reason--for our survival.

Book Trailers for Fragments (Book Two) Sorry that it's a link to the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XvuIHzyvfA

Because I am behind on reviewing three books I am holding off on Fragments until the reviews are completed and scheduled. I can't say much about what I think of Fragments so far because of my little lateness.

But here some info on Book One: PARTIALS

Book Description

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials--engineered organic beings identical to humans--has decimated the population. Reduced to only 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 have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of 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 find 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.

Dan Wells, acclaimed author of I Am Not a Serial Killer, takes readers on a pulsepounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question--one where our humanity is both our greatest liability and our only hope for survival.

Book Trailer for Partials (Book One)

About Dan Wells

Dan Wells is a thriller and science fiction writer. Born in Utah, he spent his early years reading and writing. He is he author of the Partials series (Partials, with the second book coming early 2013) and John Cleaver series (I Am Not a Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don't Want To Kill You). He has been nominated for both the Hugo and the Campbell Award, and has won two Parsec Awards for his podcast Writing Excuses. His newest novel, The Hollow City, was released in July.



Website: http://www.fearfulsymmetry.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDanWells
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDanWells
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2740668.Dan_Wells

Currently Reading

Divergent (Divergent #1) By Veronica Roth

Goodreads Description

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

This book was released in Hardcover and Ebook formats May 3rd, 2011. Then was released in paperbacks on February 28th, 2012. Published by Katherine Tegen Books, Number of pages 487 with both formats. The Paperback format has bonus materials.

This Book was voted on Goodread Choice Award for "Favorite Book" . . . and soon a movie

So I'd finally picked up this book after having purchase it last summer, and said "Let's read this book NOW!" Now I've heard this book is the next best thing to read after the Hunger Games, however I did not show interest in reading it.

Yes I went to the movie, sure it was okay but I just can't fathom how that is okay for young teen to read? Movies also applies. ANYWAYS I'm not going to rant on my POV on the Hunger Games.

Divergent . . . What do I think so far?

Well I like the Chicago area idea, considering I've been to Chicago once and love what I saw of it. But also Veronica Roth lives in Chicago so she got some of her ideas from home-based.

Factions? Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, Erudite . . . How do you choose?
From my understanding of it is that you are put through a aptitude test that matches you up with the best consideration of Factions that you could choose to join.

Now the main character Beatrice or "Tris" she neither pass/fail the test . . . her result was inconclusive which is what they refers to her as DIVERGENT. But Beatrice was told to not say anything to anyone about her results.

Abnegation (the selfless)

Amity (the peaceful)

Candor (the honest)

Dauntless (the brave)

Erudite (the intelligent)

So now the choosing factions ceremony, Tris decided to go to the Dauntless Faction, however she question herself did she make the right choice? As every transfers and Dauntless-born are put through series of tests. Tris meets a few people along the way.

The Dauntless Initiates  

Christina (Candor)

Will (Erudite)

Al (Dauntless)

Peter (Candor)

Molly (Condor)

Drew (Candor)

Uriah (Dauntless)
 

Tris begins to get along with Christina, Will and Al but the rest all see her as weak and "Stiff" because of where she's from. Tris doesn't do much to try and prove herself or draw attention but no matter what she does, she is somehow always noticed.  The instructors Eric and Four are overseeing who has what it take to be a Dauntless but there is tension between the two from their own initiate where Four was rank #1 and Eric was #2.

Characters Thoughts?

Aside from the weird names, they each are different and you can tell what their personality is but also how each have their own strength and weaknesses.
Beatrice "Tris" started off venerable but now after she been through a lot of downs rather than ups, she finds an inner strength within her.

But what she also does is find out that she is not the only "DIVERGENT" around. She also finds friendship among Will and Christina but also her instructor Four who seem to taken in interest in her because I'm sure he suspects something unusual about Tris.

There weren't many characters that you needed to keep an eye on because they didn't make the cut of being a Dauntless, but Al who had confined with Tris during multiple training sessions all the sudden turns against her.

I'm about 80% done with Divergent although I swear I just started this book Monday or Tuesday. But I guess that what happen when you read TOO MANY chapters at night. My review of the book won't be posted until sometime late next week as I take about a week to write an review.