Title: The Fault In Our Stars
Author: John Green
Published: January, 2012 by Penguin
Thanks: Penguin, AU
Pages: 313
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Final Thoughts:
Oh my…this was the book I needed to read. I’ve been in a slump lately, taking a while to read books that were okay, but that really didn’t do a whole lot for me. The Fault In Our Stars draws you out of whatever little crook you’ve been hiding in and shoves you head first into a world of feeling. I got this one a couple months back, but I’ve been avoiding picking it up mainly because I’d just read another amazing book that dealt with teen cancer and needed the break to prepare myself. On a whim, I snatched this one off my shelf and took it with me to pass the time in a waiting room and ended up almost finishing the book. Albeit the wait was 4+ hours, but it flew by. I was engrossed. I had to eventually stop myself and put it away—the tears were struggling against my flickering eyelids. Sure I could have continued struggling against a break down in public, pausing every now and again—but I wanted to give this book the attention—and the release—it deserved, so I waited, and dove back in as soon as I got home and utterly adored every second of it.

Title: The Goddess Test (Goddess Test #1)
Author: Aimee Carter
Published: April, 2011 by Harlequin Teen
Thanks: Harlequin Teen, AU
Pages: 293
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

It’s always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate’s going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won’t live past the fall.Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he’ll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.Kate is sure he’s crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she’ll become Henry’s future bride, and a goddess.

Final Thoughts:
This one took a while to get through, but was enjoyable throughout the whole book. I think I’d been expecting something a little different going into it, but the end result was equally fun and intriguing. It does have a high school aspect that tries to bring in the angst, but thankfully it was shown the door quite quickly. It wasn’t grating though—I actually found Kate’s blasé attitude towards the social hierarchy refreshing. It helped give more weight to her feelings towards her tenuous home life, waiting for her mother to die.

Title: Fated (Fated #1)
Author: Sarah Alderson
Published: February, 2012 by Simon & Schuster
Thanks: Simon & Schuster, AU
Pages: 310
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

What happens when you discover you aren’t who you thought you were? And that the person you love is the person who will betray you? If your fate is already determined, can you fight it?

When Evie Tremain discovers that she’s the last in a long line of Demon slayers and that she’s being hunted by an elite band of assassins –Shapeshifters, Vampires and Mixen demons amongst them – she knows she can’t run. They’ll find her wherever she goes. Instead she must learn to stand and fight.

But when the half-human, half-Shadow Warrior Lucas Gray – is sent to spy on Evie and then ordered to kill her before she can fulfil a dangerous prophecy, their fates become inextricably linked. The war that has raged for one thousand years between humans and demons is about to reach a devastating and inevitable conclusion. Either one or both of them will die before this war ends.

If your life becomes bound to another’s, what will it take to sever it?

Final Thoughts:
I’ve heard that Sarah’s other book Hunting Lila was amazing, so I was excited to start on her latest release. Unfortunately, it just didn’t wow me. I like demons, and I like demon hunters, so it should have been a perfect fit, but there was something about it, something that it lacked. I didn’t connect with Evie as the book progressed, and at one point I thought, “If they killed her, would I care?” The switching POVs did help it somewhat—Lucas’s life surrounding the Brotherhood brought more to the book—but towards the end, I thought it hindered it. When you know what the other character’s real intentions are, it takes away from the tension.

Title: The Alchemy Of Forever (Incarnation #1)
Author: Avery Williams
Published: April, 2012 by Simon & Schuster
Thanks: Simon & Schuster, AU
Pages: 245
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

After spending six hundred years on Earth, Seraphina Ames has seen it all. Eternal life provides her with the world’s riches but at a very high price: innocent lives. Centuries ago, her boyfriend, Cyrus, discovered a method of alchemy that allows them to take the bodies of other humans from jumping from one vessel to the next, ending the human’s life in the process. No longer able to bear the guilt of what she’s done, Sera escapes from Cyrus and vows to never kill again.

Then sixteen-year old Kailey Morgan gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her, and Sera accidentally takes over her body while trying to save her. For the first time, Sera finds herself enjoying the life of the person she’s inhabiting–and falling in love with the boy who lives next door. But Cyrus will stop at nothing until she’s his again, and every moment she stays, she’s putting herself and the people she’s grown to care about in danger. Will Sera have to give up the one thing that’s eluded her for centuries: true love?

Final Thoughts:
A different take on reincarnation is always welcome, and while this one is certainly unique, it didn’t feel substantial enough to grip me. That’s probably due in part to the short page count. Things don’t really get a lot of focus time, instead, giving us brief moments for each part that Sera comes to understand while living her new life as Kailey. I think the most time was actually spent on the setup. It felt like it took forever for the plot to get underway, and when you know what’s coming, based on the blurb, that’s when long beginnings can be a mistake. I did still enjoy the short time spent with fake-Kailey and Noah—friends falling for each other doesn’t happen enough. It’s normally the paranormal guy that gets the girl, leaving the best friend shafted.

Title: The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Published: October, 2008 by Scholastic
Pages: 454
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Final Thoughts:
I tried listening to the audiobook at the start of 2011, but I only made it six chapters in before I gave up. The narrator was so off-putting, that I just couldn’t get into the story. Fast forward a year later, with only a few weeks to go before the movie’s release date, I picked up the paperback and decided to start back at the beginning. I fell in love with this book, as simple as that. Reading, as opposed to listening, made so much of a difference to my level of enjoyment. As for the story, I never had any of those moments where you’re left shaking your head at the pages—it was just so brilliantly well thought out. And Katniss, she was smart, a constant thinker…it’s refreshing.

Title: Generation Dead (Generation Dead #1)
Author: Daniel Waters
Published: May, 2008 by Simon & Schuster
Pages: 393
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Phoebe Kendall is just your typical Goth girl with a crush. He’s strong and silent…and dead.

All over the country, a strange phenomenon is occurring. Some teenagers who die aren’t staying dead. But when they come back to life, they are no longer the same. Feared and misunderstood, they are doing their best to blend into a society that doesn’t want them.

The administration at Oakvale High attempts to be more welcoming of the “differently biotic.” But the students don’t want to take classes or eat in the cafeteria next to someone who isn’t breathing. And there are no laws that exist to protect the “living impaired” from the people who want them to disappear—for good.

When Phoebe falls for Tommy Williams, the leader of the dead kids, no one can believe it; not her best friend, Margi, and especially not her neighbor, Adam, the star of the football team. Adam has feelings for Phoebe that run much deeper than just friendship; he would do anything for her. But what if protecting Tommy is the one thing that would make her happy?

Final Thoughts:
We need more zombies in YA, or maybe I just need to go and find them. It’s a niche that I’ve been really getting into lately. While I didn’t love this book, I wouldn’t say it was bad, just a little slow for my tastes. Adding in three different POVs wasn’t preferable, but it didn’t harm the flow too much. The only real problem I had with it was the inclusion of Pete’s perspective—the star of the football team who runs the “Pain Crew”. I can see why he’s there, though. Without him, the reader has no real sense of the growing conflict beyond the general zombie-hating state of the world.

Title: Shadows (Lux #0.5)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Published: February, 2012 by Entangled Publishing
Pages: 179
Rating:  
Purchase: Amazon

The last thing Dawson Black expected was Bethany Williams. As a Luxen, an alien life form on Earth, human girls are…well, fun. But since the Luxen have to keep their true identities a secret, falling for one would be insane. Dangerous. Tempting. Undeniable.

Bethany can’t deny the immediate connection between her and Dawson. And even though boys aren’t a complication she wants, she can’t stay away from him. Still, whenever they lock eyes, she’s drawn in. Captivated. Lured. Loved.

Dawson is keeping a secret that will change her existence…and put her life in jeopardy. But even he can’t stop risking everything for one human girl. Or from a fate that is as unavoidable as love itself.

Final Thoughts:
I love that this novella exists. But if you haven’t read Obsidian, go read that now before you get stuck into this or you’ll probably be pretty confused. Everything that we were introduced to gradually in the first book was thrown straight at us in this. Focussing on Daemon’s twin, Dawson, we get to see an equally hot guy, minus the snark. I love both brothers, but Dawson was so much nicer, and I guess, more mature, giving off a vibe that made it really hard to believe he was actually sixteen. If you ignore the ages though, and enjoy it for what it is, you’ll find this to be one very addictive, albeit short, romance.