Title: Vortex (Tempest #2)
Author: Julie Cross
Published: January, 2013 by St. Martin’s Griffin
Pages: 358
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

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.

Final Thoughts:
This is what books should be like. I never felt bored, I never wanted to put it down, the characters didn’t frustrate me. Please, people, write more books like this. Vortex may be markedly different from its predecessor, but it works. There’s less of a focus on the romance—it’s not gone, but it comes in second. So much happens in this novel that thinking back, it’s hard to imagine it all fit into just over 350 pages. You may find yourself missing some of the old characters, but with plenty of new ones thrown at you, you won’t have time to notice. Plus, if you’re anything like me, you will soon lose yourself in the intricately plotted mess that is time travel.

Title: The New Hunger (Warm Bodies #0.5)
Author: Isaac Marion
Published: January, 2013 by Zola Books
Thanks: Zola Books
Pages: 128
Rating:  
Purchase: Zola Books

New York is a bayou. New Orleans is a reef. The entire country has been devastated by natural disasters and governmental collapse, and on top of everything else there is the annoying problem of zombies trying to devour you at every turn. But for sixteen-year-old Nora and her younger brother Addis, they are about to discover the most frightening thing yet: being abandoned in this horrific world by their own parents.

Left with only a bag of clothes and a first-aid kit, Nora and Addis begin a harrowing journey to connect with anyone who isn’t looking to rob them or eat them. A wounded man wrecks a meal of green beans and French fries at the top of the Space Needle in Seattle. An attempt to get a good night’s sleep in a fortified motel is ruined by an undead face staring at them through the window. And they just can’t seem to shake someone – something – that’s been following them everywhere they go….

Meanwhile, traveling toward the city with her parents is a young girl named Julie. She is only twelve, but has already seen friends die and her school burn. She has watched her father become nearly as cold and remorseless as the Dead. All she wants is someplace to call home, even if it never really will be.

Final Thoughts:
I was incredibly surprised to find this one waiting for me in my inbox this morning. I had no idea there was going to be more in Warm Bodies world, let alone a prequel and a sequel. After madly devouring it last year, finding The New Hunger today was most definitely what I needed to draw me back into actually enjoying reading. I couldn’t stop, carrying my laptop around just to keep reading when I realised it was beyond time that I cooked myself something resembling dinner. It was that kind of book. Seriously, don’t start it if you have to go to work. Or better yet, take the day off.

Title: What In God’s Name
Author: Simon Rich
Published: August, 2012 by Serpent’s Tail
Pages: 240
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Welcome to Heaven, Inc., the grossly mismanaged corporation in the sky. For as long as anyone can remember, the founder and CEO (known in some circles as “God”) has been phoning it in. Lately, he’s been spending most of his time on the golf course. And when he does show up at work, it’s not to resolve wars or end famines, but to Google himself and read what humans have been blogging about him.

When God decides to retire (to pursue his lifelong dream of opening an Asian Fusion restaurant), he also decides to destroy Earth. His employees take the news in stride, except for Craig and Eliza, two underpaid angels in the lowly Department of Miracles. Unlike their boss, Craig and Eliza love their jobs – uncapping city fire hydrants on hot days, revealing lost keys in snow banks – and they refuse to accept that earth is going under.

The angels manage to strike a deal with their boss. He’ll call off his Armageddon, if they can solve their toughest miracle yet: getting the two most socially awkward humans on the planet to fall in love. With doomsday fast approaching, and the humans ignoring every chance for happiness thrown their way, Craig and Eliza must move heaven and earth to rescue them – and the rest of us, too.

Final Thoughts:
I did not expect to get through this one so quickly. Pretty much in a reading slump lately, I surprised myself the further I found myself getting through the book. Set in the offices of Heaven, it follows the lives of two over-achieving angels employed to take care of the miracles side of the business. While it does seem to play things a bit light-heartedly, it somehow manages to shift the stakes to the extreme without batting an eyelid. It’s an addictively warm romantic comedy that leaves you rooting for not only for the disastrously inept, but fated couple they’re looking after on Earth, but the awkward angels as well.

Title: Alice In Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1)
Author: Gena Showalter
Published: October, 2012 by Harlequin Teen
Thanks: Harlequin Teen, AU
Pages: 404
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies…

Final Thoughts:
Not quite what I was expecting, but still enjoyable. It did take me a while to get through the start, but I’m putting that down to my haphazard reading schedule as of late. One thing I noticed while reading this, was that the characters are likeable—all of the them. It’s something I appreciate moreso now after a year of sifting through many irritating leads. While the romance didn’t draw me in as much as her Intertwined series, I still found myself enjoying this for the zombie-fighting action. Oh…and Ali’s new best friend, Kat.

Title: Finale (Hush Hush #4)
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Published: October, 2012 by Simon & Schuster
Pages: 454
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Nora and Patch thought their troubles were behind them. Hank is gone and they should be able to put his ugly vendetta to rest. But in Hank’s absence, Nora has become the unwitting head of the Nephilim and must finish what Hank began. Which ultimately means destroying the fallen angels – destroying Patch.

Nora will never let that happen, so she and Patch make a plan: lead everyone to believe they have broken up, and work the system from the inside. Nora will convince the Nephilim that they are making a mistake in fighting the fallen angels, and Patch will find out everything he can from the opposing side. They will end this war before it can even begin.

But the best-laid plans often go awry. Nora is put through the paces in her new role and finds herself drawn to an addictive power she never anticipated.

As the battle lines are drawn, Nora and Patch must confront the differences that have always been between them and either choose to ignore them or let them destroy the love they have always fought for.

Final Thoughts:
This was the book that just wouldn’t end. Usually I like a long read, but with Finale, I just had to keep putting it down. I think it took me around three weeks to get through this tome. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to be a masterpiece judging on the previous books, but I was at least expecting something a little more. Hush, Hush had me addicted, but I’ve been growing more and more frustrated the further I delved into the series. Nora is an idiot—it’s as simple as that. She likes to think she’s not, but she is. If you can put up with that, by all means, jump in, you’ll probably…what am I saying, I can’t recommend this book.

Title: Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy #1)
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Published: September, 2012 by Simon & Schuster
Pages: 373
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Kami Glass is in love with someone she’s never met – a boy the rest of the world is convinced is imaginary. This has made her an outsider in the sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, but she doesn’t complain. She runs the school newspaper and keeps to herself for the most part – until disturbing events begin to happen. There has been screaming in the woods and the dark, abandoned manor on the hill overlooking the town has lit up for the first time in 10 years.

The Lynburn family, who ruled the town a generation ago and who all left without warning, have returned. As Kami starts to investigate for the paper, she finds out that the town she has loved all her life is hiding a multitude of secrets- and a murderer- and the key to it all just might be the boy in her head. The boy who everyone thought was imaginary may be real…and he may be dangerous.

Final Thoughts:
As an obvious fan of The Demon’s Lexicon, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on anything new by Sarah Rees Brennan. I was kept sated by Team Human, a riot of vampiric indignation, but now that I’ve finished Unspoken, I’m probably going to have to drop the high average that I’ve been holding onto for the past few years. It was still a great book, but just not an, ‘OMG, where have you been,’ kind of book. Thankfully though, the sardonic wit is back, bringing with it a whole new group of teenagers, one lead by a particularly inquisitive (pronounced: ‘nosey’) girl, Kami, backed up by whichever of her friends she manages to wrangle into tagging along with her on her sometimes illegal escapades into finding out the truth.

Title: Storm (Elemental #1)
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Published: April, 2012 by KTeen
Pages: 358
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys all the ones she doesn’t want. Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They’re powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

Secrets are hard to keep when your life’s at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who’s hiding the most dangerous truth of all.

The storm is coming

Final Thoughts:
Finally finished this one! It took me a few weeks, but that was due more in part to a lack of reading time than a downfall on the book’s part. In fact, once I got focussed on Storm, I didn’t want to do anything else. It’s been hard finding a book that could do that in a while. While I didn’t give this one five stars, it was a solid read. A highlight for me was Becca—a main character that was actually likeable. Too often I groan at the idiotic things protagonists get up to, but thankfully, that didn’t happen this time.