Title: Untold (The Lynburn Legacy #2)
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Published: September, 2013 by Simon & Schuster
Pages: 370
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

It’s time to choose sides… On the surface, Sorry-in-the-Vale is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. In the old days, the Lynburn family ruled with fear, terrifying the people into submission in order to kill for blood and power. Now the Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways.

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love anyone she chooses. But who should that be?

Final Thoughts:
Initially put off by this sequel after not quite warming to Unspoken in the way I did with The Demon’s Lexicon, I let this book sit on my bedside table for a few months. Falling into a bit of a reading slump in the process, I tried to fill it with ten volumes of the Nana manga. (I recommended that series, by the way—lots of angst.) Getting back on topic, it was as if something clicked this time. I picked up Untold and I found myself loving Kami. She’s smart and uses it to get on peoples’ nerves in all the right ways. Rather than shoving a bunch of snarky characters at us, we still get the quips, yet see that they actually have heart.

Title: The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1)
Author: Rick Yancey
Published: May, 2013 by Penguin
Thanks: Penguin, AU
Pages: 460
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

THERE WILL BE NO AWAKENING.
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

Final Thoughts:
When your friends and your enemies all look alike, how do you know which one to kill? When the Aliens who have invaded your planet, and the forces who wish to rebel against them are both human, how would you know what side you’re fighting on?

Title: Blood Magic (The Blood Journals #1)
Author: Tessa Gratton
Published: May, 2011 by Random House
Pages: 405
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

It starts off simply.

Draw a circle… place a dead leaf in the center… sprinkle some salt… recite a little Latin… add a drop of blood…

Maybe that last part isn’t exactly simple. Yet somehow it feels right to Silla Kennicott. And nothing in her life has felt remotely right since her parents’ horrific deaths. She’s willing to do anything to uncover the truth about her family—even try a few spells from the mysterious book that arrived on her doorstep … and spill some blood.

The book isn’t the only recent arrival in Silla’s life. There’s Nick Pardee, the new guy next door who may have seen Silla casting a spell. She’s not sure what he saw and is afraid to find out. But as they spend more time together, Silla realizes this may not be Nick’s first encounter with Blood Magic. Brought together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick can’t deny their attraction. And they can’t ignore the dark presence lurking nearby—waiting to reclaim the book and all its power.

Final Thoughts:
There’s just something about witches, magic, it’s just so much fun to read. I mean, who hasn’t grown up imagining they had their own powers, flinging their hands about, casting spells. It’s fun. Blood Magic throws us into a world full of secrets, yet does it in a way that doesn’t try and choke you with information up front. It allows you to grow with the main character, Silla, as she discovers the magic an actually care about the people in her life. Yes, it’s another ‘dead parents’ book, but their deaths play a strong part in building Silla, rather than it done just to let her roam free for the span of the book.

Title: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Published: August, 2010 by Scholastic
Pages: 455
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans — except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay — no matter what the personal cost.

Final Thoughts:
This book made me cry. I didn’t think I would, but then, there was one scene near the end that just broke me. Lying in bed with tears in my eyes, I had a new respect for Suzanne Collins’ writing. She really gave it everything in this book and made me care about so many of the side characters. I just couldn’t stop reading. Building up throughout the series, this book brought it all to a close in such a way that left you satisfied, yet still riveted. I just want the third movie to be out already and I haven’t even seen the second yet.

Title: Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Published: September, 2009 by Scholastic
Pages: 472
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

After winning the brutal Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta return to their district, hoping for a peaceful future. But their victory has caused rebellion to break out … and the Capitol has decided that someone must pay. As Katniss and Peeta are forced to visit the districts on the Capitol’s Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. Unless they can convince the world that they are still lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

Final Thoughts:
Yes, I’m way behind the times on these books, I know. The impending release of the second movie finally got me moving and back into this series. Having just finished it an hour ago, I can’t believe I waited so long. I’ve already grabbed out Mockingjay so I can continue straight into the finale. This book threw me upside down. I thought we’d be left plodding along through the second book, basically bridging the gap in the trilogy, but I was completely wrong. Personally, I think loved this one more than the first.

Title: Unearthly (Unearthly #1)
Author: Cynthia Hand
Published: January, 2011 by HarperCollins
Pages: 432
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Clara has known she was part-angel ever since she turned fourteen two years ago, but only now is her Purpose – the crucial rite of passage for every part-angel – becoming clear to her. Clara′s Purpose leads her family to Wyoming, where, amidst terrifying scenes of a bush inferno, she finds the boy of her visions, Christian. He is everything she could wish for – so why does she also have feelings for her enigmatic classmate Tucker?

Clara discovers that her Purpose is only a small part of a titanic struggle between angels and their destructive counterparts, the Black Wings. And when the fire of her visions erupts and both Christian and Tucker are in danger, who will she choose to save?

Final Thoughts:
Stepping back into the angel genre after a much needed break, Unearthly tried its best to tone down the clichés where it could. Parents are live and in the picture, leading girl has a sibling, and instaluv, its nowhere to be seen. I was thankful for all of that. But on the flipside, it still felt like one of those fourth quarter plot kind of books. You know the ones, books where it’s basically all high school angst until you reach the last quarter and you finally get a taste of the supernatural plot it’s been hinting at the entire time.

Title: The First Third
Author: Will Kostakis
Published: July, 2013 by Penguin, AU
Pages: 248
Rating:  
Purchase: Dymocks // Amazon Kindle // Kobo

Life is made up of three parts: in the first third, you’re embarrassed by your family; in the second, you make a family of your own; and in the end, you just embarrass the family you’ve made.

That’s how Billy’s grandmother explains it, anyway. She’s given him her bucket list (cue embarrassment), and now, it’s his job to glue their family back together.

No pressure or anything.

Fixing his family’s not going to be easy and Billy’s not ready for change. But as he soon discovers, the first third has to end some time. And then what?

It’s a Greek tragedy waiting to happen.

Final Thoughts:
It’s hard to believe how good this was. After Felicity hyping it at the Brisbane PTA event earlier in the year, I decided I’d probably keep an eye out for it. But with three or four months to wait for the release, and adding in my goldfish memory, it slipped by me until a random trip into a Dymocks store on Election Day. I’m so glad I spotted it, finally finding something that was able to reignite my love of reading. Honestly, this past year, I haven’t been able to say I was truly hooked on anything I’ve picked up, well, until now. I’ve enjoyed some of them, but The First Third was just plain freaking awesome. And yes, I’m sure my roommates have heard me use those exact words these past few days. If I could have skipped my cousin’s wedding yesterday to finish this book, I would have.