Review: The Naturals

The Naturals 
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
308 pages (Hardcover)
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes&Noble

Blurb: 

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides—especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive. 

Review: 

I heard about The Naturals a few months before it came out and it sounded like it was going to be a really great book. I'm glad to say that it didn't disappoint me. In fact, I read it in a day because I wasn't able to put it down 

The novle was very fast paced, which I really liked. There weren't any parts in the middle of the story where it seemed to lag. 

I also really liked the cast of characters. Cassie was really interesting and I especially liked the mental processes she went through while profiling. I also very much enjoyed hoe realistic she was, even though she was "different." The rest of the characters, shane, Lia, Michael, Dean, and some of the rest, were also really fun and I liked there bickering and reactons to each other. Cassie's profiling training with the FBI agents was also extremely interesting. 

The other aspect of the novel that I loved was the mystery. Every few chapters there would be a snippet from the killer's point of view and they really added to the story. I didn't expect the ending at all, to be honest. 

The only small issue I had was the similarity between The Naturals and Kimbely Derting's The Body Finder series. However, there were enough differences that it was still enjoyable. 

Overall, I give it a hangover level of 5 out of 5. 

Want to purchase the book? Check out the links at the top! 

Waiting On Wednesday: Drop Dead Demons

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Breaking the Spine. It lets us spotlight that haven't been released and that we can't wait for. This week we've picked Drop Dead Demons by A&E Kirk, which is scheduled to release on May 27, 2014. 

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Seventeen-year-old Aurora Lahey has figured out why everyone is trying to kill her...now she just needs to figure out how to stop them.

Between all the hell-hired assassins and secret society traitors hunting her down, Aurora didn’t think life as the Divinicus Nex could get worse.

Sure, she's discovered some lethal powers of her own. Plus, six sexy, super-charged, demon-hunting Hex Boys are watching her back. And yes, Aurora doesn't mind running into the muscled arms of the hottest one—and he’s not complaining either.

But when a seductive stranger with questionable motives delivers a deadly ultimatum, Aurora and the Hex Boys plunge into a do-or-die hunt for a legendary treasure that will either finally shift power in their favor or unleash hell on earth.

Pursued by demons of mythical proportions, Aurora and the Hex Boys race deeper into a shadowy world of a centuries old mystery and brutal conspiracy, where no one and nothing is what it seems. Where love and betrayal go hand-in-hand, and trusting the wrong person not only breaks your heart, but can get you killed.

Hiding her Divinicus Nex status from those chasing her, lying to her pretend-wish-he-were-real boyfriend, dodging demons, breaking into tombs, hunting her blackmailer, and passing Physics...Aurora could do that in her sleep.

Or more likely, die trying. 

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I cannot wait for this book. I read the first book of the series when it was still brand new and I loved the whole story and plot since then. I've been waiting two years for Drop Dead Demons to finially come out and it has, I couldn't be any happier. The plot line is great and not to mention all the guys in the story are hot. 

What are you waiting for this Wednesday? 
Let us know in the comments below! 

Review: Geek High

Geek High 
Piper Banks
242 pages (paperback)
NAL Trade
Goodreads -  Amazon - Barnes&Noble

Blurb: 

At this school, everyone's a geek. And Miranda Bloom still can't fit in...

Miranda is a math genius with divorced parents, an evil stepmother, and no boyfriend in sight. She can't even fit in with the other geeks at the Nottingham Independent School for high-IQ students, because they actually have useful talents. Miranda, on the other hand, is known as "The Human Calculator," which doesn't amount to much when people have, you know, their own calculators.

Then Miranda gets stuck planning the school's Snowflake Gala. And as she struggles to find a date and drum up some school spirit at Nottingham-aka "Geek High"-she finds that who you are means more than where you fit in. 

Review: 

Here I am again with another teen/YA book, this week it's Geek High. My mother bought me this book for my birthday back in 2012 and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Enough that I wrote a review for my English class that same year. It follows the first semester of her sophmore year in high school, hitting all the highs and lows hat come with it. 

I liked how realistic the story line is. Parents are divorced, mother moves for a job and daughter has to move in with her dad. Totally plausable in the real world. The main character, Miranda, had a very believable personality and many of the things that she does throughout the story follow what an actual teenage girl would do. Character development of the supporting characters is moderately high, and I mean that in a good way. 

I would say that Geek High would be an enjoyable read for anyone who likes reading YA stories, and teenage girls may be able to relate to many of the twist and turns that miranda goes through. it's a great weekend read, but I would say you may want to be on the mature side, like 13 or older, as mature content is mentioned. 

Overall, I would give Geek High a level 4 hangover out of 5. 

Want to purchase the book? Check out the links at the top!

Waiting On Wednesday: City of Heavenly Fire

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Breaking the Spine. It lets us spotlight books that haven't been released and that we can't wait for. This week we've picked City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare, which is scheduled to release May 27, 2014. 

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ΕRCHOMAI, SEBASTIAN HAD SAID. 

I am coming.

Darkness returns to the Shadowhunter world. As their society falls apart around them, Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends must band together to fight the greatest evil the Nephilim have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Nothing in the world can defeat him — must they journey to another world to find the chance? Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world changed in the sixth and last installment of the Mortal Instruments series!

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Jordyn has been on the edge of her seat while waiting for this installment of The Mortal Instruments to be released. I will admit that I myself have not read any of the books in this series but Jordyn did force me to watch teh movie adaptation of it. i will say the storyline itself seems very interesting, just not my personal style. that doesn't mean I can't wait for it to be released, though. not only are we spotlighting this book but we also have a countdown for it on one of our sidebars. The cover fits along very well with the rest of the known covers and i know fans have been debating over which two characters are actually suppose to be on the cover. 

What are you waiting for this Wednesday? 

Let us know down in the comments! 

Waiting on Wednesday: Killer Instinct

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Breaking the Spine. It lets us spotlight books that haven't been relaesed and that we can't wait for. This week we've picked Killer Instinct  by S.E. Green, Shannon Greenland, which is scheduled to release on May 6, 2014. 

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She’s not evil, but she has certain... urges.

Lane is a typical teenager. Loving family. Good grades. Afterschool job at the local animal hospital. Martial arts enthusiast. But her secret obsession is studying serial killers. She understands them, knows what makes them tick.

Why?

Because she might be one herself.

Lane channels her dark impulses by hunting criminals—delivering justice when the law fails. The vigilantism stops shy of murder. But with each visceral rush the line of self-control blurs.

And then a young preschool teacher goes missing. Only to return... in parts.

When Lane excitedly gets involved in the hunt for “the Decapitator,” the vicious serial murderer that has come to her hometown, she gets dangerously caught up in a web of lies about her birth dad and her own dark past. And once the Decapitator contacts Lane directly, Lane knows she is no longer invisible or safe. Now she needs to use her unique talents to find the true killer’s identity before she—or someone she loves—becomes the next victim...

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We can't wait for this book to be published! It's coming very soon but we've had our eyes oon it seen it first popped up on all of our Goodreads dashes. Jordyn, Michaela, and I have always been fascinated by serial killers and what makes them tick. Was it something in their childhood? Is there something wrong with them mentally? Either way, we think this book is gonna be great and we're jumoing in our seats, excited for it to finally come. 

What are you waiting for this Wednsday? 

Let us know in the comments below! 

Review: Everything Is Perfect When You're a Liar

Everything Is Perfect When You're a Liar 
Kelly Oxford
336 pages (paperback)
It Books
Goodreads  - Amazon  - Barnes&Noble

Blurb: 

From her beginnings as a wunderkind producer of pirated stage productions for six-year-olds, through her spirited adventures watching self-satisfying monkeys, throwing up on Chinese food deliverymen, and stalking Leo DiCaprio, here are the goofy highs and horrifying lows of life as Kelly Oxford. 

Review: 

I didn't know what to expect when I first got Everything Is Perfect when You're a Liar. It sounded like an interesting book, but I was never one for memoirs or life stories. Once I got a couple chapters in I realized that this memoir wasn't like other memoirs out there. Kelly's story is basically multiple essays weaved together to create a story, starting in her childhood and end in her now adult life. 

I have seen many people give mild rated reviews of this book, now that I have personally read it myself, and on Goodreads it curentlly holds a 3.36 star rating. I, on the other hand, love this book. Throughtout the story she is literally telling readers just who ignorant she was as a child and teenager, while as growing as an adult she realizes that everything that she had done in highschool really came back and bit her in the ass. 

Many reviewers have called her narcissistic for complaining about her seemingly perfect life, but what they don't realize is that she not really complaining, but rather telling her life story the way she sees it with her emotions and her feelings. This is what kept my attention while I was reading. If I remember correctly, I finished this book within 3 or 4 hours, so rather quickly. I honestly believe that if you enjoy reading and maybe even laughing at other peolples failures you might like reading this book, and if not, check it out anyway.  

Overall, I give this a hangover level 4 out of 5. 

Want to purchase the book? Check out the links at the top!

Review: Red Knife

Red Knife 
William Kent Krueger
320 pages (Hardcover)
Atria Books
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes&Noble

Blurb: 

The newest book in William Kent Krueger's award-winning Corcoran O'Connor series finds the charismatic private investigator caught in the middle of a racial gang war that's turning picturesque Tamarack County, Minnesota, into a bloody battlefield.

When the daughter of a powerful businessman dies as a result of her meth addiction, her father, strong-willed and brutal Buck Reinhardt, vows revenge. His target is the Red Boyz, a gang of Ojibwe youths accused of supplying the girl's fatal drug dose. When the head of the Red Boyz and his wife are murdered in a way that suggests execution, the Ojibwe gang mobilizes, and the citizens of Tamarack County brace themselves for war, white against red.

Both sides look to Cork O'Connor, a man of mixed heritage, to uncover the truth behind the murders. A former sheriff, Cork has lived, fought, and nearly died to keep the small-town streets and his family safe from harm. He knows that violence is never a virtue, but he believes that it's sometimes a necessary response to the evil that men do. Racing to find answers before the bloodshed spreads, Cork himself becomes involved in the darkest of deeds. As the unspeakable unfolds in the remote and beautiful place he calls home, Cork is forced to confront the horrific truth: Violence is a beast that cannot be contained.

In "Red Knife," Krueger gives his readers a vivid picture of racial conflict in small-town America, as well as a sensitive look at the secrets we keep from even those closest to us and the destructive nature of all that is left unsaid between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, friends and lovers.

Review: 

Red Knife is a book that my sophmore English teacher assigned the class to read. At first, I didn't think it would be a very good book, I've never been a person that was interested by mysteries that took place in Minnesota. I mean come on, I live in the state and I know how boring it really is. I gave it a try though, English was my best class and it looked like a short, easy read that I could quickly finish. 

Once I started the book and got through the first chapter I realized just how much I was going to LOVE this story. While you're reading it you believe that you have it all figured out and that you know who is at fault, then new evidence turns up and the loop is thrown off. I myself take pride in how quickly i can solve murder mysteries in my head, whether it be in a book, show or movie, but this book had me stumped and it was a refreshing feeling. Now, Red Knife is the eighth  book in Krueger's Cork O"Conner series, which can be found on Goodreads. 

I had the pleasure to meet Mr. Krueger last April, at a book festival that has become an annual event in my small town of Saint Peter. Sadly, I wasn't able to talk to him for very long, but from our short conversation I can inform you all that he is a kind man who very much enjoys writing and giving advise to young adults that are interested in writing. 

Overall, I give this book a hangover level of 4 out of 5. 

Want to purchase the book? Check out the links at the top!