Title: Being Human (Being Human #1)
Author: Patricia Lynne
Published: September, 2011
Thanks: Patricia Lynne
Pages: 284
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository // Amazon // Smashwords

For Tommy, there is only one thing he needs to do: survive.

Only surviving isn’t that easy. The hunt for blood can be tricky when humans know to fear the night. Desire sits on the edge of his mind, urging him to become the monster humans think he is. Vampire Forces, a special branch of police, is determined to turn every vampire to ash. Tommy included.

The only human Tommy can trust is his twin brother. A bond connects them, and with Danny’s help, Tommy starts to understand the human world he struggles to survive in. He’ll learn what friendships means and feel the sting of betrayal, find that sometimes the worst monsters are very human, and come to understand that family means more than blood.

Tommy just wants to survive and he knows what he needs to do. But with the number of humans that mean more to him than a meal growing, he’ll learn there’s more to life than simple survival. He’ll discover being human doesn’t mean being a human.

Final Thoughts:
Why can’t I find a nice, boring book that won’t wrench apart my insides? This is the third one in the past week. I can’t handle it. Stop writing amazing books people. With that said, I can’t believe I took so long to get around to this one. With the simple, yet eerily awesome dark cover begging me to open it up and read, I have to wonder what the hell was wrong with me. I shouldn’t have kept Tommy waiting. There were so many times that my eyes teared up leaving me blinking away the blurry vision so I could keep reading, that I lost count. Being Human took me through so many emotions—both good and bad—there was just simply no way to put it down. It’s what I loved about it. There were never moments where I felt like nothing was happening. The staggered insight into Tommy’s life after being turned was just too riveting.

Title: Touch (Denazen #1)
Author: Jus Accardo
Published: November, 2011 by Entangled Publishing
Pages: 251
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home.

Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy—and her father’s “law firm”—than she realized.

Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons—his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking down Denazen before they’re caught and her father discovers the biggest secret of all. A secret Dez has spent her life keeping safe.

A secret Kale will kill to protect.

Final Thoughts:
Touch had everything I could have wanted. It’s wickedly romantic, while still managing to pound you with the action and wring you out with twist after twist. I’d liken it to a teen-focussed book version of the CW’s Nikita—evil corporation kidnapping and brainwashing recruits into thinking they’re doing good—well if the recruits had supernatural abilities. The prospect of a boy with a death touch drew me in, but it’s the bond between Kale and Deznee that really hooked me.

Title: Warm Bodies
Author: Isaac Marion
Published: October, 2010 by Atria
Pages: 240
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

A zombie who yearns for a better life ends up falling in love—with a human—in this astonishingly original debut novel.

R is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. He doesn’t enjoy killing people; he enjoys riding escalators and listening to Frank Sinatra. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Not just another zombie novel, Warm Bodies is funny, scary, and deeply moving.

Final Thoughts:
Wow…yes…well…just…wow. R’s ellipsis fetish must have rubbed off on me a little. I know this title has been drowning in five stars lately, but it’s worth it. The narrative is a little jarring at first, thrust into the mind of a zombie ready for its next feeding, but what results is magic. With only 240 pages, Marion doesn’t waste his words. There are no lulls, only carefully crafted reams of character development. R is such a loveable zombie that you can’t help but feel for him even when he’s sneaking bites at a brain.

Title: If I Die (Soul Screamers #5)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Published: September, 2011 by Harlequin Teen
Pages: 342
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

The entire school’s talking about the gorgeous new math teacher, Mr. Beck. Everyone except Kaylee Cavanaugh. After all, Kaylee’s no ordinary high-school junior. She’s a banshee—she screams when someone dies.

But the next scream might be for Kaylee.

Yeah—it’s a shock to her, too. So to distract herself, Kaylee’s going to save every girl in school. Because that hot new teacher is really an incubus who feeds on the desire of unsuspecting students. The only girls immune to his lure are Kaylee and Sabine, her boyfriend’s needy ex-girlfriend. Now the unlikely allies have to get rid of Mr. Beck…before he discovers they aren’t quite human, either.

But Kaylee’s borrowed lifeline is nearing its end. And those who care about her will do anything to save her life.

Anything.

Final Thoughts:
This is the book the series has needed. Soooo much romance. While I’ve really enjoyed the Soul Screamers so far, If I Die took it to a whole new level. It was possibly everything you could want and not want thrown together in a storm of emotions. It pained me to put it down once I realised 3am had caught up with me. I kept searching for a chapter to end things on comfortably for the night, but unfortunately Rachel has written a book that just won’t let go of you. But once I found page 204, I forced myself to seal the book and grinned myself to sleep.

Title: Stick
Author: Andrew Smith
Published: October, 2011 by Feiwel & Friends
Thanks: Macmillan via NetGalley
Pages: 292
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Fourteen-year-old Stark McClellan (nicknamed Stick because he’s tall and thin) is bullied for being “deformed” – he was born with only one ear. His older brother Bosten is always there to defend Stick. But the boys can’t defend one another from their abusive parents.

When Stick realizes Bosten is gay, he knows that to survive his father’s anger, Bosten must leave home. Stick has to find his brother, or he will never feel whole again. In his search, he will encounter good people, bad people, and people who are simply indifferent to kids from the wrong side of the tracks. But he never loses hope of finding love – and his brother.

Final Thoughts:
Stick shattered my expectations. I’m left in awe over it. It was a book I simply had to read in one session, there was no way to put it down. While the main character was thirteen and a boy, something different from my usual literary outings, I found Stark McClellan’s story incredibly heart wrenching. In a book reaching less than 300 pages, I still managed to care about these characters in a way a book hasn’t been able to make me feel in a while. There were actual tears in my eyes. If a book can make me cry – 5 stars.

Title: Forever (Wolves Of Mercy Falls #3)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Published: July, 2011 by Scholastic
Pages: 496
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

The thrilling conclusion to #1 bestselling Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy from Maggie Stiefvater.

In Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. In Linger, they fought to be together. Now, in Forever, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.

Final Thoughts:
I feel like I need to go snack on a block of chocolate after this one. My emotions are on shaky ground, like someone’s stomped on them, sewn them back together and then backed a car over them. I separated my reading into three sessions. The first quarter on Thursday night, the middle Saturday night and then finished off the last quarter Sunday morning. I think that was the right way to do it, this book is a giant ride where you need to pause and enjoy the scenery as so much happens that it could feel like a blur if you were to rush through. You also need to choose your resting points wisely or you could find yourself losing sleep worrying about what Sam and Grace were getting themselves into.

Title: Shiver (Wolves Of Mercy Falls #1)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Published: January, 2009 by Scholastic
Pages: 434
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Grace and Sam share a kinship so close they could be lovers or siblings. But they also share a problem. When the temperature slips towards freezing, Sam reverts to his wolf identity and must retreat into the woods to protect his pack. He worries that eventually his human side will fade away and he will left howling alone at the lonely moon. A stirring supernatural teen romance.

Final Thoughts:
Wow. If you’re like me and you love the I-can’t-breathe-without-you type romances, you need to read this. That’s if you haven’t already, I’m a bit behind on starting this series. But I do have the added advantage though. I have all three books here, so I don’t have to endure the torturous wait in between each of them. Shiver is a werewolf book, although it’s handled differently than any of the others I’ve come across, and I like it. It’s fun, it’s emotional, but most of all, it’s addictive. Why I chose to pick this up right before bed time is beyond me. You need to clear out your schedule because it will pain you to put this book down when sleep creeps up on you.