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.

Title: Hot Gimmick, Omnibus 1 (Hot Gimmick#1-3)
Author: Miki Aihara
Published: March, 2009 by VIZ Media
Pages: 552
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

In company-owned rabbit-hutch apartments live tenants who can’t afford to live anywhere else, and the apartment complex in which high-school girl Hatsumi Narita lives is ruled over by the rumor mongering, self-righteous Mrs. Tachibana. Get on Tachibana’s bad side, and life becomes hell. When Hatsumi has to buy a pregnancy test because her popular sister Akane is late, Mrs. Tachibana’s son, Ryoki, who used to bully Hatsumi as a kid, promises not to tell the world about Hatsumi’s secret, only if she becomes his slave.

Suddenly Azusa, Hatsumi’s protector in their youth, reappears to save her again. He’s moving back into the neighborhood. Despite the budding romance between Hatsumi and Azusa, Ryoki has control over her through the secret that could ruin the lives of everyone in Hatsumi’s family, and he hasn’t forgotten who his slave is.

Final Thoughts:
While I do have a bit of a passion for anime, I haven’t read much manga. I plan on rectifying that though. After scurrying through over five hundred pages in the past day, I can definitely say that I’m addicted to Hot Gimmick. I don’t feel so bad about forking over $27 for this massive—at least in manga book sizes—3-in-1 omnibus edition. Full of angst, and by that, I mean, drenched in it, this was one book where you wanted to rip the douchey guy’s hair out and feed it to him. I really don’t know what was so great about this story—maybe the shock value. The characters were so over the top, completely unbelievable, but somehow, in a weird way, connectable…

Title: The Third Day, The Frost (Tomorrow #3)
Author: John Marsden
Published: 1995 by Pan Macmillan
Pages: 278
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

And then there were five….

It has been six long months since Ellie and her friends returned home from a camping trip to find their families and friends imprisoned by an enemy that threatens to steal Australia’s freedom. Only they can stop this. Like seasoned soldiers, their methods have become extreme, even involving terrorism.

When she’s not gathering food and supplies or running like prey to survive, Ellie wonders at what they’ve become: Are they now ruthless terrorists? The more involved and vicious it gets, the higher the stakes are raised. Everyone is fighting for their lives.

Final Thoughts:
Taking an almost 2 year break between books two and three, I found myself surprised at how easily I got back into this series. Picking it up on a whim this week, I rushed through, finding the tense pacing made it almost impossible to catch a breather. Full of action, sabotage, subterfuge and angst—it was a much needed reading cleanser after some not-so-great books. Being my first time reading this Aussie teen war series from the 90s—well, I was forced into reading book one in high school, back when I wasn’t a reader—I’ve still got all of the twists to look forward to. It’s something I love about it. It really does read like a movie.

Title: Unafraid (Archangel Academy #3)
Author: Michael Griffo
Published: February, 2012 by KTeen
Thanks: Kensington
Pages: 403
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

The boarding school known as Archangel Academy possesses a legacy of secrets known only to a privileged few. For in this peaceful, charming part of England lives a population of vampires at war with one another–and Michael Howard is caught in the middle of it all. . .

When Michael left his small Nebraska hometown to enroll at Archangel Academy, he couldn’t have imagined how much the experience would change him. Once mortal, Michael is now a vampire with a destiny that was foretold long ago, and a group of friends with their own mysterious abilities.

But there are enemies too, some of them hiding in plain sight. Being strong enough to defend himself isn’t enough. Michael must find a way to protect his entire race of vampires. Dark forces within the school will drive everyone to take sides in the escalating violence. And for all his new powers, Michael will discover that love, jealousy, and vengeance have a danger all their own. . .

Final Thoughts:
It took me over two months to make it through this one. I just found it a struggle to maintain an interest in the story. While I found myself originally drawn into the series and its British academy teeming with sixteen year old vampires, as it progressed, the overall story arc surrounding one seriously pissed off principal failed to enrapture me. In terms of Michael and Ronan’s relationship, I found that book three really didn’t take them any further. The mountain of angst they were put through in the previous instalment is practically non-existent now. Some may like that—they have past their tests and it’s them against the bad guys rather than mistrusting each other. I like a bit of both though. If things don’t get shaken up just a little, they can feel stagnated.

Title: Moonlight Mayhem (Spellbound #2)
Author: Sherry Soule
Published: July, 2012 by Moonlight Publishing
Thanks: Sherry Soule
Pages: 325
Rating:  
Purchase: Amazon

Otherworldly Creatures. Dazzling Magic. Fiery Romance.

Shiloh Ravenwolf thought she was getting used to the strange events in Whispering Pines, until the full moon brings another surge of supernatural threats to her coastal town. Ferocious wolves, deadly necromancers, and shambling zombies have descended upon the neighborhood, so Shiloh needs to gain control of her magical abilities—fast!

It sucks that she has a crippling fear of the dark, which for a demon hunter can be an epic problem. But she spends so much time wallowing in the darkness, how can she not become a part of it?

When her classmates are attacked by a mysterious creature and her father is murdered, Shiloh vows vengeance. Forcing her phobias aside, she forms an unlikely coven of supernaturally gifted teens to help her eradicate this menace. Except that’s not all Shiloh has to worry about. She’s battling a different monster within herself and struggling not to become the very thing she fights: evil.

But with demon blood inside her—anything can happen…

Final Thoughts:
It took me a couple weeks reading on and off to get through this one. While I enjoyed the book, it didn’t capture me in the quite same way that the first instalment did. Gone were the hidden secrets and gothic undertones that we got exploring the Ravenhurst Manor, instead, replaced by a not-a-werewolf wolf infestation story. Unfortunately, in that regard, there wasn’t a lot of mystery to keep me guessing. So, if you’re one for big twists, you might be a little disappointed.

Title: Team Human
Author: Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan
Published: July, 2012 by HarperTeen
Pages: 344
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn’t mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she says in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It’s up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity!

On top of trying to help Cathy (whether she wants it or not), Mel is investigating a mysterious disappearance for another friend and discovering the attractions of a certain vampire wannabe. Combine all this with a cranky vampire cop, a number of unlikely romantic entanglements, and the occasional zombie, and soon Mel is hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching. Acclaimed authors Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan team up to create a witty and poignant story of cool vampires, warm friendships, and the changes that test the bonds of love.

Final Thoughts:
This book should have come with a warning label. I almost choked my own incessant laughter amongst a fit of coughing and spluttering. I was constantly grinning like a kid on Christmas over how thoroughly I found myself loving Mel and her vampire-boyfriend eradicating ways. Breathing sarcasm, and backed by a heavily rooted disliking of vampires that wanted to date her friends, Mel was the kind of character you just glom onto and don’t want to let go of. The plot seemed a little flimsy to start with, but it quickly grew beyond the initial premise, adding in a mystery, angsty friends, and cute guys.