Out of the Blue

E-galley received through Netgalley for review.

While driving home on a rural road with her elderly mother, who suffers from dementia, Hannah Shire stops to help a man who has had a car accident. Before the paramedics bring him away, the man whispers something in Hannah's ear. A mysterious organization is hunting down Hannah and her mother for what they know. The police might be involved, as well. Hannah and her mtoher are forced to run away and hide. Once Hannah asks her 27-year-old daughter for help, she becomes a target, too.

The main character, Hannah Shire, is a nurse in her early fifties. She's a widow and lives with her elderly mother, who has dementia and needs to be taken care of. Hannah's mother loves dancing, listening to pop music, and wearing her purple hat.

After Hannah stops to help a stranger, her life is put in danger. Two men declaring to be policemen come to her house to question and threaten her. She later learns they were not policemen at all; later, she starts to suspect that the law enforcement might be involved in the conspiracy. Because the man Hannah had tired to help had actually been murdered while he tried to prevent a terrorist attack on the whole United States. Hannah and her mother are on the run. Hannah asks her daughter for help, putting her in danger, too.

Dark Justice is a fast-paced thriller full of action. Once I passed the first few chapters, I couldn't put it down; I had to know how it ended. After I finished the book, I learned it was categorized as a "religious" book because the characters often pray and cite passages from the Bible. The narration, however, never becomes preachy or anything like that. If you enjoy thrillers with conspiracy elements, you are going to love this novel.

E-galley received through Netgalley for review.

Before her accident, Kaitlyn decided to donate her body to science. She didn't expect she would wake up to find out that her body and life had been stolen from her. Now she belongs to a scientific organization, ICIS, who transformed her into a cyborg: part human, part robot. They want to make a war machine out of her in order to seel her to the army. They took all her memories and her ability to feel pain and feelings. Kaitlyn, however, secretly can still have feelings. In particular, she has a crush on the young scientist she is working with, Lucas. He has feelings for her as well. As Kaitlyn struggles to find out about her past, they fall in love.

This is the first book in a series, and actually not that much happens. The book opens as Kaitlyn is already part machine, and remembering nothign about her previous life. They tell her she's seventeen, but they won't reveal where she lived or how she came to be so close to death that only their intervention could save her life.

I liked Kaitlyn as a character. She's brave and spunky. Sher's determined to do whatever it takes to get her life back. She's also very generous and wants to help others. Lucas is a young, brilliant scientist. He's devoting his whole life to his work and keeps to himself. Kaitlyn, however, goes past his reserve and they form a connection.

I think I'm going to read the next book in the series. I hope we find out more about the ICIS organization and more about Kaitlyn's previous life (and possibly, her family).

E-galley received for review through Netgalley.

Ramsey is eighteen years old and has lived all her life in the small, rural town of Paw Paw, Michigan. She loved drawing, playing in a band with her friends, and playing hockey. But her life is about to change: she has been accepted at art school and is about to move to Baltimora and start living in a big city. Ramsey chronicles her life through collages, drawings, lists, and journal entries, thus making the book sort of a graphic novel - but not quite. It certainly wasn't what I expected - I thought it would be prose.

The title comes from an observation from Ramsey's mother - she says Ramsey is going to be "a little fish in a big pong for the first time". Ramsey certainly has many new things to learn: from navigating the town public transport system to figuring out how to make new friends - something she hasn't had to do since she was a child. Luckily, she finds good friends in her new roommates and neighbours, and maybe even a love interest. Ramsey has never had a boyfriend and has never been interested in dating; she prefers having good friends to the drama of getting together and breaking up.

This was a lovely book, but I found myself sometimes glazing over Ramsey's lists. I would've prefer to read more journal entries and less lists, especially because all the lists about her home town seem to be very similar.

E-galley received through Netgalley for review.

Need next book(s) in the series *right now*.

Evelina Cooper, the niece of detective Shelock Holmes, has finished school and is about to enter her first Season in London. She's been living with her friend Imogen, the daughter of Lord Bancroft - a politician and former ambassador. However, when one of the Bancroft servants is murdered, Evelina begins her own investigation to discover the name of the killer.

The world in which Ms Holloway's series is set is a fascinating mix of steampunk and magic. London is powered by steam and gas and controlled by the wealthy steam barons, who have cut up the city in different areas of influence. But even more powerful than steam is magic, a mysterious force which has been declared illegal.

Evelina has magic in her blood. The daughter of a noble woman who had eloped with a soldier, she spent her childhood with her Gran Cooper at the Ploughman circus, learning to walk the rope and perform on the trapeze. Then Grandma Holmes came to take her away, so that she could be raised as a young lady from the gentry. In school she made friends with Imogen Roth and was invited to spend time at her family residence, Hilliard House.

Evelina has feelings for Tobias, Imogen's elder brother, but she also has a soft spot for her childhood friend and former sweetheart Nick, alias the Indomitable Niccolo, an accomplished rider and the main attraction at the Ploughman circus. Nick has magic in his blood, too, and their being together causes their magic to flow free and unrestrained. Evelina's relationship with Tobias is further complicated by his father, who asks him to seduce her in order to distract her from the murder case. Tobias, however, refuses to do so.

Evelina is an intelligent, passionate young lady. She wishes to complete her education at Women's College in London, but her grandmother is opposed to the idea and wants to see her married instead. Evelina, in addition to her knowledge about magic, also has interests in mechanics and the creation of small mechanical objects. This is a passion she shares with Tobias, but they both need to keep it a secret, as it is frowned upon for members of the upper classes to do manual work.

Ms Holloway's description are very vivid, rich, and detailed. Maybe even a little too much detailed. If I had to find a fault in this book, it would be its size. About 480 pages is a bit too much, in my opinion. Many descriptions could be cut a little without any real loss in meaning. I do want to keep reading this series - I am eager for the next book - but I hope it's slightly shorter.

E-galley received through Edelwiess for review.

I received a copy of The Chinese Knot and Other Stories by Lien Chao thanks to TSAR books and Mini Book Expo for Bloggers. This collection of short stories focuses on single Chinese women living in Canada as immigrants.

In Under the Monkey Bars, Wei Ming finds alone ina public payground, where she observes the racial prejudices at work between parents and children. In Rose, the main character Rose reflects on what brought her from China to Canada as an immigrant and the strained relatiosnhip with her family afterwards. In African Lion Safari, Katherine reflects on the possibility of spending a lonely life or marrying a Chinese suitor whose food tastes are from a different region. In A Wanton Woman, Yi Mei, after making an impulsive phone call to China discovers her love for "wanton woman" Ai Hua. In Water and Soil, Shirley mulls over her relationship to the Chinese and the Canadian soil. In Neighbours, Sally observes her neighbourhood in Toronto's multiracial environment. In The Cactus, Judy recounts her friendship with Mark and Pierre. In The Chinese Knot, Teacher Lu is an advisor, refuge, and even a prospective bride to her various students.

The female protagonists of these stories are all single women who find themselves in Canada as strangers. They find love, overcome crises, face loneliness, and confront racial stereotypes as they grow in Canada's increasingly multiracial scenario.

I rarely read collections of short stories, but I found this book appealing and interesting. The characters are taken in significative moments of their lives, in which they must resolve a problem or discover something new about themselves. Author Lien Chao explores their lives as they face prejudice, loneliness or life crises.

I would recommend this book to those who want to know more about Chinese immigrants in Canada, or more in general about the condition of being an immigrant in Canada.

E-galley received through Netgalley for review.

E-galley received through Edelweiss for review.

OMG. So, so hot. Can't wait for the second book in the series!

Warning: this review contains spoiler for the first book in the series, The Blemished.

Mina and her friends are now safe in the Compound, a Clan settlement beyond the Scottish border. The peopel living there are called the Vanished, because they life outside law and society. There, children are still born naturally, and people live by farming and raising cattle.

Mina is reunited with her father. She discovers why he abandoned her: he was trying to reunite kids with different powers, similar to her own. Beside her and Daniel, there are other three children with extraordinary power: Mike, who can smell emotions; Kitty, who tracks people by their taste; and Hiro, who can read minds.But life in Scotland is not as idylliac as it might seem. Mina soon starts to suspect that something is very wrong there. Also, she needs to fight as a Clan warlord threatens to destroy the Compound.

The second installment of the Blemished series is as action-packed as the first. Mina, Daniel, Angela, and Sebastian have found shelter in the Compound, but there are enemies there, too. Mina's and Daniel's powers label them as Freaks; people in the Compound are suspicious of them and keep their distance. Sebastian is regarded with contempt because he's a GEM boy. Angela, who used to be Mina's best friend, is jealous of her relationship with Daniel and turns sour towards the both of them. Someone in the Council ruling the Compound is behaving suspiciously; and another Clan tribe is marching towards the Compound, threatening war.

The main character, Mina, needs to develop her powers in order to keep her loved ones safe. She also needs to trust her father again after he abandoned her. Her relationship with Daniel evolves into something different. The love triangle is apparently over; anyway, it was clear Mina favoured Daniel over Sebastian.

The book ends in a serious cliffhanger, which would have had me biting my nails had I not been able to start reading the third book immediately.

Review copy received through Enchanted Book Promotions

In a world full of genetically-altered clones called GEMs, Mina Hart is a Blemished, i.e. imperfect. She's forced to cover her hair with a headscarf, work as a servant for the GEMs, and forbidden to have children. On her first day at St. Jude's school, Mina befriends another Blemished girl, Angela. Then she meets Angela's adoptive brother Daniel and is soon drawn to him. Then there's Sebastian, the handsome GEM boy that Mina is forbidden to even talk to. Moreover, Mina is keeping a big secret, one that could threaten her whole life...

First of all, this dystopian series is set in Great Britain, and it's refreshing to read something set on this side of the Atlantic for once. Britain has been taken over by a company called Ministry, which creates babies artificially by combining their DNA according to the requests. Thus, babies are not created naturally. Those who are rich enough to afford services from the Ministry can have GEM babies; the others are called Blemished and forced to work as servants. They get only a partial education: girls study Sex-Ed (some biology), while boys don't go to school at all and do manual labour. Blemished girls are forced to wear a headscarf covering their hair and to have an Operation at sixteen which makes them infertile. I liked this side of the story, à la The Handmaiden's Tale.

Mina Hart has just moved to a different Area of Britain with her father. Her mother is long gone; she joined the Resistance (a group who fights against the Ministry) and is probably dead. But Mina is also special; she has powers that could put her life into jeopardy, were they to be discovered. She's a spunky, brave heroine ane easy to relate to.

The story is action-packed and moving fast; there's never a dull moment. We're led to gradually discover different aspects of life in Britain under the Ministry rule. I'm definitely going to keep reading this series.

E-galley received through Netgalley for review (Galley Alley program)

Max Walker is a golden boy. He's sixteen, handsome, charismatic, and intelligent. He does well in sports and at school; he's nice to his little brothers; and attracts the attention of girls in school. His mother is a successful criminal lawyer, an expert at maintaining a façade of perfection. Now, however, her hisband Steve is running for Parliament, and the Walker family is about to step into the spotlight.

Max, however, is not really a boy. He was born with both a penis and a vagina; he's intersex, a hermaphrodite. This is a well-kept secret in the family; apart from the walkers, only Max's childhood friend Hunter knows. Max has always identified as a boy and avoids serious relationships, although he has a reputation for making out with many different girls. One evening, Hunter goes into Max's bedroom and rapes him. This will have unthinkable consequences for Max and his whole family.

This is an original story, in that I can't remember ever reading a book with the same subject. It's a hard book to read and quite graphic in some points, but still very worthwhile. The discussion about being intersex is very frank and honest. The narration switches between six different point of views: Max, his mother, his father, his younger brother, his girlfriend Sylvie, and the Walker family doctor. Each narrator is expertly differentiated and recognizable even without chapter headings.

The characters are fully fleshed-out and described. I felt for Max and Sylvie, and found the novel very touching. I was very, very glad I read this.

I need Book 2 *right now*.

E-galley received through Netgalley for review.

After the events in Ashes, Alex is on the run from Rule. She wants to look for Tom, but she's soon captured by a group of Changed - teenagers turned into flesh-eating zombies - led by Wolf. Surprisingly, the Changed don't eat Alex alive, although they'd very much like to. She seems to come to an understanding with Wolf, who spares her life. In the meantime, we learn what happened to Tom. He's been rescued by an elederly couple and living with them. He wants to find Alex, even though he's led to believe she's dead. Moreover, things are happening in Rule. Chris wants to find Alex, too, while his friend Peter is taken by a group of men with evil intentions.

There are many, many point of views in Shadows. A whole lot of them; so many that I lost count. I hope you remember the characters in Ashes well, because everyone comes back and has their say. Moreover, each scene is left off on a cliffhanger, before the focus shifts somewhere else. This was extremely frustrating, and slowed down the pacing, too. Apart from that, this was a good book, although not as good as the previous one. Many things happen, but we're not provided with many answers. We still don't know why the pulse happened, what acused it, and why some were spared. We do know now what happened to Tom and Ellie, at least.

I liked this book, but the first installment of the series was much better. I have high hopes for the final book - I hope for some answers, at the very least.

Alex, a sisteen-year-old girl with brian cancer, was hiking into the woods when an elecrtomagnetic impulse swept the country, destroying every electronic device and killing thousands of people between 25 and 60. Alex teams up with Ellie, an eight-year old girl whose grandfather was killed by the pulse, and Tom, a young soldier on leave from Afghanistan. They soon discover that the United States are in disarray and that among the teenagers who were spared, many have turned into flesh-eating monsters.

This book is action-packed and full with heart-thumping twists. It's almost as if it were divided into two parts: the first half featuring Alex, Ellie, and Tom fending off for themselves; and the second half, in which Alex is separated by her companions and finds shelter into the community of Rule. The first part was much more interesting than the second; even though the mystery of Rule was engaging, there was just no match. I wanted to learn more about Tom and what happened to him, and kept waiting for him to turn up.

The main character, Alex, is a strong girl who lost both her parents in a car crash a few years before. She was living with her aunt and fighting against brain cancer. At the beginning of the book, she's decided she will not undergo another cycle of therapy and has left her aunt's house to go hiking alone. Then, the mysterious pulse happens. The United States are now filled with teenagers turned into flesh-eating zombies. Well, there's not proper zombies, since they never died; but they behave exactly like zombies, so it's safe to consider them so.

Alex, Ellie, and Tom are left to fend off for themselves. They are actually very good at that. As a trained soldier, it's natural that Tom would have some experience in survival techniques. Alex, however, was way too good at that. The explanation given by the narrator was that she learned it all about from her father, but he has already been dead for years. Moreover, when the group finds shelter in the ranger's cabin, they could very well spend the winter there. Instead, they decide to move up north in order to find a "secluded" place where they can settle and start farming. But they already were in a secluded place... one provided with food and various equipment (including a generator!). Why would they need to leave? It's obviously a device to keep the plot moving, but I'd rather a more sensible motivation was given.

As for Alex's powers... I found that to be the weakest element in the plot. We already have a mysterious electromagnetic pulse (where did it come from?), mysterious killings (why did everyone between 25 and 60 die? Why only spare children, teenagers and old people?), and flesh-eating zombies (why were some spared?). You don't need superpowers, too.

Once Alex arrives in Rule, the narrative pace slows down considerably. It's obvious something's wrong there, and Alex is driven to find out exactly what. She's also alone, now, so she needs to find help. The book ends in a big cliffhanger - it would have been frustrating, had I not started to read Book 2 immediately.

E-galley received from Netgalley for review.

I should remember that Thomas Nelson publishes Christian fiction. With this book, you don't have to wait long before things get preachy. And I mean very preachy indeed.

Thalli is a sixteen-year-old who lives in the State. She lives underground, together with her fellows from Pod C, because the air above ground is polluted and toxic. In each Pod everyone has a specific job; Thalli is a musician. But there's more to that; she has feeling and emotions, and this is not tolerated in the State. The Ten Scientists who rule the country have determined feelings to be the cause of war, which has destroyed the world.

Once Thalli is discovered as a threat to life in the Pod, she's taken to the Scientists for annihilation. But, before that, she's rescued by her friend Berk, who comes from her same Pod and is training as a Scientist. Berk persuades the other Scientists to keep Thalli alive and use her as a test subject. Down there Thalli also meets John, an old man who tells her of the Designer who created the world using love.

Feelings, personal choice, and sickness have no place in the State. A friend of Thalli's is taken away from the Pod as a young girl because she has a cold (!!). Children have no real parents; they're created by the Scientists who manipulate their DNA, put together according to their age, and forced to live in closed-off communities. Each Pod is allowed to have a look at the moon ince a week. Every activity is carefully programmed and scheduled. As young kids, Thalli and Berk strike up a friendship, but he has to leave the Pod shortly after to start training as a Scientist. Berk has always been treated better than the other children; he was encouraged to ask questions and develop his own opinions.

After Thalli is taken for annihilation, she has to live in the lab quarters. There she meets John, an old man who is the father to one of the Scientists. John was born naturally and grew up with his parents. He tells Thalli about the Bible and God's love. Things get very, very preachy after that.

I probably wouldn't have minded about the religious parts if this book had had a strong plot and/or interesting characters. Unfortunately, it had neither. Both Thalli and Berk are very bland and don't seem special. The plot is vague and very little happens until the very end, setting up the beginning for the next book in the series. Which I won't be reading.