Me on Waiting on Wednesday (207)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: I Heart Robot
Author: Suzanne van Rooyen
Release Date: March 31, 2015
Publisher: Month 9 Books

From Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Tyri wants to be a musician and wants to be with someone who won't belittle her musical aspirations.

Q-I-99 aka 'Quinn' lives in a scrap metal sanctuary with other rogue droids. While some use violence to make their voices heard, demanding equal rights for AI enhanced robots, Quinn just wants a moment on stage with his violin to show the humans that androids like him have more to offer than their processing power.

Tyri and Quinn's worlds collide when they're accepted by the Baldur Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. As the rift between robots and humans deepens, Tyri and Quinn's love of music brings them closer together, making Tyri question where her loyalties lie and Quinn question his place in the world. With the city on the brink of civil war, Tyri and Quinn make a shocking discovery that turns their world inside out. Will their passion for music be enough to hold them together while everything else crumbles down around them, or will the truth of who they are tear them apart?

This sounds really good, I hope it's really good. I'm curious about the human/droid romance, how much of a robot Quinn is, how a romance between a human and a robot is going to work.

Me on This Week's Book Week (135)

This Week's Book Week is rather similar to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews only with far more rambling and a less witty title. ;)

Not much ramble this week because of the holiday and my birthday and not so much has happened book-wise that I can think about rambling on about. I hope everyone's been having a good holiday/end of year break so far, as long or as short as it's been for you. If you're working retail, hopefully it hasn't been too much like hell on Earth.

I've been making a list of books I hope to read/buy in 2015. Does anyone else do this? Top of my list has to be the 4th Raven Cycle book.

Just one review coming next week because I'm still on a break for the holidays and the new year, but come back on Friday for a review of Willowgrove by Kathleen Peacock. :)

Bought/borrowed/received:
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner (gift)
Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake (gift)
(Other Christmas/birthday gifts not pictured include a Chapters gift card, a new wallet, a new leather journal/notebook, clothes, chocolate, and some new mugs.)
Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (from HarperCollins on Edelweiss)
None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio (from HarperCollins on Edelweiss)
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia (from HarperCollins on Edelweiss)
Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider (from HarperCollins on Edelweiss)
The Cage by Megan Shepherd (from HarperCollins on Edelweiss)
The Leveller by Julia Durango (from HarperCollins on Edelweiss)

Me on This Week's Book Week (134)

This Week's Book Week is rather similar to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews only with far more rambling and a less witty title. ;)

It's almost Christmas. It doesn't look like it'll be snowing here this Christmas, which is fine. I'm not the biggest fan of snow when I have to leave the house.

I'll be taking a review break to catch up on some reading (books I bought or won during the year plus some library books). I've already read a couple of books in the last couple of days, which is always nice. I stalled for a bit, but that's because I have a lot of e-books and e-galleys and my mom was borrowing my Kobo because she wanted to read one of my library e-books before I had to return it.

The longlist for Canada Reads came out. And there's actually some YA on it! There's (You) Set Me on Fire by Mariko Tamaki, When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid, and the not technically YA For Today I Am a Boy by Kim Fu. All LGBTQIA books, 2 of which have PoC main characters. But they're either award winners or critically acclaimed by the (snoozy) literary crowd. Unfortunately, they're safe choices. I imagine I'll watch it in the spring to see how far the YA title will get (because of this year's format, 1 of the 3 will make the shortlist). I'm curious to see how seriously it will be taken, if at all.

I didn't think I'd be as chatty when writing this, considering I spent 4 hours waiting around different parts of a hospital. It was so boring there. (I wasn't the one in the hospital and everyone is fine now. No need to worry.)

Reviews will return on January 2nd (Friday). :)

Bought/borrowed/received:
Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers (e-book borrowed from the library)
Love, Lucy by April Lindner (ARC from Hachette Book Group Canada)
The Cemetery Boys by Heather Brewer (e-galley from HarperCollins on Edelweiss)
Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby (e-galley from HarperCollins on Edelweiss)
Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley (e-galley from HarperCollins on Edelweiss)
Illusionarium by Heather Dixon (e-galley from HarperCollins on Edelweiss)

Me on Chorus

Title: Chorus
Author: Emma Trevayne
Release Date: May 27, 2014
Publisher: Running Press Kids

The dream is all white from a memory that is too real, and its melody has continued to haunt Alpha, even though she has moved as far away from temptation as possible. Eight years after she was exposed to her first and only addictive musical track from the Corp, Alpha has established a new life with a band of her own in a city that has given her the space she was seeking, Los Angeles. However, it only takes one urgent call to bring Alpha back home to Anthem, the older brother who raised her as well as a revolution, and Omega, her twin brother whose contrasting personality makes her feel whole. As Alpha spends more time in the Web, she notices that the number of people who look sickly and addicted seems to be rising. With Anthem's health declining, Alpha and her friends will have to dig deeper into the mainframe than ever before in order to find the root of the Corp's re-emergence.

Chorus is a return to an enhanced future with secrets still lurking in the shadows. After the rebellion, after the revolution, the Web became a better place to live for Alpha and her brothers. But something has returned.

Alpha is her own person. She's finally comfortable with life, with living in Los Angeles by the beach. Away from the Web. But the Web is like a web. It can trap you, surround you, make it impossible for anyone to escape. Alpha has to find the strength to fight back with everything around her begins to crumble, and the strength to share the truth of what happened to her and Omega when they were children. I like Alpha, she's strong and dedicated. But she takes on too much. She keeps her own problems hidden away, buried deep where they only cause more problems. She doesn't share them in order to keep everyone safe, but she needs to if they want to get through this new crisis.

Power is addictive and insidious. In Coda, the Corp was everything. It controlled everyone, and Anthem brought it down. But pieces of it would always remain, waiting for the right moment, that perfect second in time that would allow it to rise up again and regain what was once theirs.

As with the first book, music is the backbone of this story. It's the message, the vessel, the drug and the cure. It's about what music does to us as human beings. How it lifts us up, how it breaks us into pieces. How it lets us express ourselves to those close to us, to those we've never met before. It gives us the chance to share hopes, dreams, thoughts, fears. It fuels us. And the Corp attempts to abuse it in the worst way possible.

As the titles implies, this is the chorus, the repetition. It suggests a cycle that exists in the world. Freedom, subjugation, rebellion, and back to freedom. It suggests that it will happen again and again, that there will always be  those who risk everything, even themselves, to save the world. It suggests that someone will have to make that sacrifice every time a force rises up in an attempt to exert control over the general population. It's a bit dismal, but it's honest. Things happen in waves, war and peace. There will be sorrow, but at the same time there will always be hope.

(I purchased a copy of this book.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (206)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: The Storyspinner
Author: Becky Wallace
Release Date: March 3, 2015
Publisher Margeret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster imprint)

From Goodreads:

Drama and danger abound in this fantasy realm where dukes play a game for the throne, magical warriors race to find the missing heir, and romance blossoms where it is least expected.

In a world where dukes plot their way to the throne, a Performer’s life can get tricky. And in Johanna Von Arlo’s case, it can be fatal. Expelled from her troupe after her father’s death, Johanna is forced to work for the handsome Lord Rafael DeSilva. Too bad they don’t get along. But while Johanna’s father’s death was deemed an accident, the Keepers aren’t so sure.

The Keepers, a race of people with magical abilities, are on a quest to find the princess—the same princess who is supposed to be dead and whose throne the dukes are fighting over. But they aren’t the only ones looking for her. And in the wake of their search, murdered girls keep turning up—girls who look exactly like the princess, and exactly like Johanna.

With dukes, Keepers, and a killer all after the princess, Johanna finds herself caught up in political machinations for the throne, threats on her life, and an unexpected romance that could change everything.

I know high fantasy and I don't always get along, which is strange considering how much I love awesome world-building, but this sounds really interesting. I'm half-hoping that Johanna isn't the missing princess. It's rather obvious, but I'm hoping for a big twist.

Me on This Shattered World

Title: This Shattered World
Authors: Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Release Date: December 23, 2014
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met. Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents. Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion. Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.

This Shattered World is dangerous, secretive, and thought-provoking. This is the story of a soldier and a rebel both fighting for what they believe in, both caught up in a battle neither ever saw coming, Both uncovering a secret that could change everything.

Jubilee is a soldier through and through. Hard, unforgiving, skilled. It's been trained into her since she joined up, and even before, with the shadows in her past. She doesn't really let herself hope for much beyond surviving and one day dying gloriously. Flynn is compassion, reason. He's a rebel in that he's fighting back but he's willing to talk, to put down his weapons and actually talk, even if most on his side believe the time for talk is over. They're on different sides of the same battle, but then they end up on the same side of a new battle and have to fight their previous allies in order to survive. It tests them, their strength in their beliefs and their shaky trust in each other.

Yes, this is science fiction, and yes, this couple's love story is hard and tragic, but as I read it I saw something else. I saw the colonists of Avon tired of being ignored, of not having questions answered, of not having access to health care and education for their children. I saw them fighting for what they believe in, fighting for the right to survive. Fighting to be recognized as human beings, as valid and important as anyone else. This group of colonists, protecting the planet they've called theirs for decades, deserves the same amount of respect and acknowledgement as a man with millions upon millions of dollars at his disposal who is quite possibly using his power and influence for nefarious purposes. It sounds so familiar. The number of parallels to modern day and current events I've seen in YA, especially in futuristic dystopias and science fiction, is growing. It makes me wonder if we're caught in a never-ending cycle of despair and hope. That we will spend years, decades, centuries, alternating between being divided and united.

Where These Broken Stars was isolated, focused for the most part of Lilac and Tarver, this feel so much more open and so much more dangerous. It's still about Jubilee and Flynn, their decisions, their crises, their impossible battles, but it's also about more. It's about everyone on Avon and their chances of survival. And it's about the whispers. If you liked the first book, odds are you'll enjoy this one while lamenting the wait for the third.

(I received a e-galley of this title to review from Disney Book Group through NetGalley.)

Me on This Week's Book Week (133)

This Week's Book Week is rather similar to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews only with far more rambling and a less witty title. ;)

Our tree went up this week so it's getting closer to Christmas.

The Raincoast Teens Read Spring Preview was fun, it was nice seeing local YA bloggers and booksellers again, and the Raincoast publicity girls. It's nice that Raincoast is local, it lessens the blow when I hear about fun events that publicists in Toronto have set up. And it sounds like the Google Hangout video was a good idea for those non-local bloggers. (Take note, publishers.)

I'm back from dog-sitting. It was fun and everything went smoothly, but I could tell after a while that Koda got tired of me not being his family. Which I understood.

I've been debating whether or not to do a top books of 2014 post, I might do it on Tumblr instead, just post a bunch of covers because there are some books I've really enjoyed that I don't have finished copies of yet.

Reviews going up this week will feature This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner (Tuesday) and Chorus by Emma Trevayne (Friday). :)

Bought/borrowed/received:
The Truth About Us by Janet Gurtler (ARC from Raincoast Books' Teens Read Spring Preview)
Sweet by Emmy Laybourne (ARC from Raincoast Books' Teens Read Spring Preview)
Earthling by Aisha Franz (from Nafiza over at The Book Wars)
Also from Raincoast's preview event are some buttons, a small-ish poster of Fairest, and a Chronicle Books tote.

Me on The Name of the Blade

Title: The Name of the Blade
Author: Zoë Marriott
Release Date: November 11, 2014
Publisher: Candlewick Press

When Mio sneaks the family's katana -- a priceless ancestral sword -- from her parents' attic, she just wants to spice up a costume. But the katana is much more than a dusty antique. Awakening the power within the sword unleashes a terrible, ancient evil onto the streets of unsuspecting London. But it also releases Shinobu, a fearless warrior boy, from the depths of time. He helps to protect Mio -- and steals her heart. With creatures straight out of Japanese myths stalking her and her friends, Mio realizes that if she cannot keep the sword safe and learn to control its legendary powers, she will lose not only her own life... but the love of a lifetime.

The Name of the Blade is thrilling, mysterious, exciting, and dangerous. Mio unearths something secret, something meant to be hidden away, and she's the only one who can stop it.

I rather like Mio as the heroine. She takes it all in, even though she has to or else she'll get killed. When the Nekomata comes after her, when Shinobu appears from the katana, she takes it all in with some "what in the world am I supposed to do now, I'm only fifteen" and some secret ancient Japanese power. She's not the boldest girl, and she doesn't have a killer instinct kind of mentality, but she has her strengths. Her welcoming personality, her understanding that none of what happens next will be a game. She takes it all rather seriously.

The friendship/relationship Mio has with Jack is the best. They support each other, they keep the other grounded, but it's not all blind faith and acceptance. Jack pushes back at Mio. It's the kind of friendship with unyielding support and also one where they challenge each other to do better, to be better. It's an honest friendship.

One of my main reasons for reading this book is the Japanese history and mythology. I was intrigued as to how it would appear, how it would impact Mio and her actions later on. I found it to be rather mysterious but also rather present, if that makes sense. There's magic and voices only few can hear, but there's the sword and what it does to Mio, there's Shinobu, there's the Kitsune and the Nekomata. Some of the conflict is internal, Mio warring over what to do next, but a fair amount of it is external. Which was exciting to read about, Japanese mythology and creatures against the backdrop of 21st century London.

I've been waiting to read this for so long and it didn't disappoint. Japanese mythology, the UK setting, magic swords and cat demons. But after reading it I wanted desperately to know what happened next. Who's controlling the Nekomata? Where did the sword really come from? What is the connection between Shinobu and Mio? The book takes place of a short period of time, and that barely scrates the surface of what's been going on for centuries. What the katana realls is. What the Yamato family has been hiding. I only hope it doesn't take too long for the nest two books to come out here.

(I borrowed a copy of this title from the library. Note that this is a review of the North American release. The UK release, titled The Night Itself, came out on July 4, 2013 and was published by Walker Books.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (205)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Made You Up
Author: Francesca Zappia
Release Date: May 19, 2015
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins imprint)

From Goodreads:

Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal. 

Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.

I rather like the author's comparison titles of "Ouran High School Host Club meets A Beautiful Mind." I'm far more interested in that part of it that the description from Goodreads. Still, it certainly sounds interesting. This has to be one of my most anticipated titles of 2015.

Me on The Iron Trial

Title: The Iron Trial
Authors: Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
Release Date: September 9, 2014
Publisher: Scholastic Press

Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial. Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail. All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him. So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing. Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future. The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come...

The Iron Trial is mysterious, magical, and dangerous. This is the beginning of a young boy's journey through magic, fate, and learning the secrets that have been kept from him. The secrets that have the power to change everything he thought he knew about himself.

Callum is an interesting main character. He's a little harsh, a little bitter, and he's full of sarcasm. Not an always looking on the bright side of life kind of 12-year-old, but I like that. It has the look of a dark and dangerous series and his attitude fits. And the different personalities of Tamara and Aaron, the girl under pressure from her parents to achieve greatness and the boy with a smile on his face and only sadness in his past. The three of them form a unique group, different pasts and different motivations. It looks like they'll work well together.

There are a number of questions left unanswered, which was to be expected. This is the first in a five book series. Nothing is really going to be solved in this book. There's an introduction to Call, to the Magisterium, to the magic that exists, to the enemy they battle, to the fellow students that are bound to become Call's closest friends. And there's a truth revealed that I certainly hadn't expected.

Now, I've seen a lot of comparisons to Harry Potter in regards to this book, both positive and negative. You could also compare this to any other middle grade series about a 12-year-old with magical powers searching for the truth about who he really is. So try and set aside those comparisons as you read this.

As the series goes on, I have to wonder at what else will be revealed. Revealed to Call, revealed to his friends and fellow apprentices. Revealed to the Magisterium. What the truth really is behind the war with the Enemy of Death.

(I received a copy of this title from Scholastic Canada.)

Me on This Week's Book Week (132)

This Week's Book Week is rather similar to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews only with far more rambling and a less witty title. ;)

Hello! It's December now. *hides from the passage of time*

Another week in which the world was a sad and complicated place.

Starting yesterday (Friday), I'm house and dog-sitting for a friend of my sister's until Wednesday. I'll be taking my laptop, posts will still go up regularly, but at the moment I'm not sure how much I'll be online.

Reviews going up next week will feature The Iron Trial by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare (Tuesday) and The Name of the Blade by Zoë Marriott (Friday). :)

Bought/borrowed/received:
Enchantment Lake by Margi Preus (e-galley from University of Minnesota Press on NetGalley)
The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White (e-book borrowed from the library)
Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White (e-book borrowed from the library)
House of Ivy & Sorrow by Natalie Whipple (e-book borrowed from the library)
Kissing in Italian by Lauren Henderson (e-book borrowed from the library)

Me on Rain Reign

Title: Rain Reign
Author: Ann M. Martin
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan imprint)

Rose Howard has OCD, Asperger's syndrome, and an obsession with homonyms (even her name is a homonym). She gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms (reign, rein), which, according to Rose's rules of homonyms, is very special. Rain was a lost dog Rose's father brought home. Rose and Rain are practically inseparable. And they are often home alone, as Rose’s father spends most evenings at a bar, and doesn't have much patience for his special-needs daughter. Just as a storm hits town, Rain goes missing. Rose's father shouldn't have let Rain out. Now Rose has to find her dog, even if it means leaving her routines and safe places to search.

Rain Reign is insightful and emotional, and at times melancholy. This is the story of a smart young girl and how she sees the world before, during, and after the disappearance of her beloved dog.

Rose is a very intriguing narrator. Now, I can't speak as an authority on children with Asperger's/autism or OCD (even though I did once work as a behavoural interventionist), but Rose's voice sounds very authentic. She sounds very matter of fact, a young girl without guile or artifice, unable to lie or pick up on subtle clues in certain social situations. She has her routines, her preferences, her likes and dislikes. She has her meltdowns and her struggles. But throughout the story she grows, she learns, and that's what's important.

It's easy to support Rose, given her relationship with her father. It's not that he's given up, but he's very much a man who doesn't understand and, to be honest, doesn't want to understand Rose's diagnosis. He sees it as her just not paying attention, her acting out, when it's not. Telling her to stop won't make it better and he refuses to try another method. It makes me wonder if the departure of his wife and Rose's mother left him depressed.

Before I read this I thought back to when I was a kid and devoured the Babysitters Club books, and I wondered if I'd be able to separate the two. But then Rose completely took over and her story filled my mind. This is her story and she shines in it. A definite must read for kids and parents alike and for those who enjoy unique characters.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (204)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Stone in the Sky
Author: Cecil Castellucci
Release Date: February 24, 2015
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan imprint)

From Goodreads:

In this thrilling follow-up to Tin Star, Tula will need to rely on more than just her wits to save her only home in the sky.

After escaping death a second time, Tula Bane is now even thirstier for revenge. She spends much of her time in the Tin Star Café on the Yertina Feray—the space station she calls home. But when it's discovered that the desolate and abandoned planet near the station has high quantities of a precious resource, the once sleepy space station becomes a major player in intergalactic politics. In the spirit of the Gold Rush, aliens from all over the galaxy race to cash in—including Tula's worst enemy.

I'm really looking forward to this, I loved Tin Star. It was definitely a different kind of YA novel, almost no romance, it was all about Tula and her finding a home on the space station, her interactions with the other humans and the aliens. When I heard there was going to be a sequel, I freaked out.

Me on Chasing Power

Title: Chasing Power
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury

Sixteen-year-old Kayla was born with the ability to move things with her mind, things like credit cards and buttons on cash registers, and she has become a master shoplifter. She steals to build up enough money for her and her mom to be able to flee if her dad finds them again, which would mean grave danger for them both. When she's caught stealing by a boy named Daniel, a boy with the ability to teleport, he needs her help and is willing to blackmail her to get it. Together, they embark on a quest to find and steal an ancient incantation, written on three indestructible stones and hidden millennia ago, all to rescue Daniel's kidnapped mother. But Kayla has no idea that this rescue mission will lead back to her own family-and to betrayals that she may not be able to forgive... or survive.

Chasing Power is a mysterious adventure filled with twists and turns. Deep down, it's all about actions, mistakes, and regrets, about secrets and lies. About how far some will go to obtain power.

Kayla is rather confident in her ability, as weak as it is. Maybe too confident, maybe a bit too cocky and controlling, but she feels she has to be. She's extremely protective of her mother because of what happened in their past and would do anything to keep them safe and away from her father. She's prepared for any dangerous situation that might arise. She sees risk where some wouldn't, like when she first meets Daniel. But things change after they meet, and the world isn't as small or simple as Kayla thought.

As often as it comes up, this book might as well be about secrets, about keeping them and sharing them, and about the frustration they create. There's a lot that Kayla doesn't tell her mother, about her using her power, about Daniel and their trips around the world. It did annoy me at times, how close her and her mother were and yet she wouldn't tell her what was going on. There are some things that her mother kept from her, some rather important secrets, but that doesn't make it better. The fractures in their relationship get longer as the book goes on because neither of them tell the other the truth. Considering how often Kayla's life is in danger, it bothered me that she felt she just couldn't tell her mother.

There are a lot of twists and surprises in this book, maybe too many for my liking. It gets a little complicated, trying to remember who'd finally told Kayla the truth, what was once a lie but wasn't any more, who was coming after her, her mother, and Daniel. But it's still an interesting story. There's a lot of tension as Kayla and Daniel search for the stones, a few life or death situations that I hadn't expected. I imagine fans of the author's previous books will enjoy this as well.

(I received an e-galley of this title to review from Bloomsbury through NetGalley.)