Me on Waiting on Wednesday (307)

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

Title: Defy the Stars
Author: Claudia Gray
Release Date: April 4, 2017
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

From Goodreads:

In her most epic and ambitious work to date, bestselling author Claudia Gray takes readers on an interstellar journey exploring what it means to be human.

Noemi Vidal is a teen soldier from the planet Genesis, once a colony of Earth that's now at war for its independence. The humans of Genesis have fought Earth's robotic "mech" armies for decades with no end in sight. 

After a surprise attack, Noemi finds herself stranded in space on an abandoned ship where she meets Abel, the most sophisticated mech prototype ever made. One who should be her enemy. But Abel's programming forces him to obey Noemi as his commander, which means he has to help her save Genesis--even though her plan to win the war will kill him. 

Together they embark on a daring voyage through the galaxy. Before long, Noemi begins to realize Abel may be more than a machine, and, for his part, Abel's devotion to Noemi is no longer just a matter of programming.

Sci-fiiiiiii. Super epic sci-fi with robots and mechs and questions of morality and humanity and programming. Yessssssss.

Me on All In

Title: All In
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Release Date: November 3, 2015
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Three casinos. Three bodies. Three days. After a string of brutal murders in Las Vegas, Cassie Hobbes and the Naturals are called in to investigate. But even with the team's unique profiling talents, these murders seem baffling: unlike many serial killers, this one uses different methods every time. All of the victims were killed in public, yet the killer does not show up on any tape. And each victim has a string of numbers tattooed on their wrist. Hidden in the numbers is a code—and the closer the Naturals come to unraveling the mystery, the more perilous the case becomes. Meanwhile, Cassie is dealing with an equally dangerous and much more painful mystery. For the first time in years, there's been a break in her mother's case. As personal issues and tensions between the team mount, Cassie and the Naturals will be faced with impossible odds—and impossible choices.

All In continues the overall theme and mood from the first two books, continues the tension and the mystery, the intrigue and the danger. There's always a killer out there waiting to be caught, there are always clues left behind in the things they do, the people they kill, and there's always someone watching and piecing it all together.

It doesn't take long for Cassie to get slammed by painful memories again. The loss of her mother, the lack of knowledge as to what really happened to her, if she's really dead or just missing. But then she gets some news. They think they found her body. But Cassie doesn't have time for grieving all over again. Not when she and the other Naturals are on their way to Las Vegas in order to help with an ongoing case. No more cold cases.

Everyone's demons creep out a little here, reminding the reader that Cassie isn't the only one with skeletons in her closet. There's Michael's... relationship with his father, Sloane's issues stemming from her past before the Naturals program, Dean still coming to terms with his childhood and what his father made him do (but he is getting better with that, being supportive with Cassie). And as always, Lia being Lia. Cassie is the glue that holds them all together. She knows that. But can she keep it up after all this new information about her mother?

I regret that I didn't pick this up sooner because I couldn't stop reading it. Like Cassie and the others, I had to find out who the killer was. I had to know who did it and why, what their reasoning was, what the patterns meant. And the twist at the end? Fans of the previous two books will certainly enjoy this one and scramble to read the fourth once they finish.

(I borrowed an e-book of this title from the library.)

Me on This Week's Book Week (234)

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 to talk about this week. Every day felt the same this past week. Maybe next week will feel different?

Reviews going up this week will feature All In by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Tuesday) and A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess (Friday). :)

Bought/borrowed/received:

The Reader by Traci Chee (borrowed from the library)
A New Hope: The Princess, The Scoundrel and the Farm Boy by Alexandra Bracken (borrowed from the library)

Me on Delilah Dirk and the King's Shilling

Title: Delilah Dirk and the King's Shilling
Author/artist: Tony Cliff
Release Date: March 8, 2016
Publisher: First Second (Macmillan imprint)

After being falsely accused of spying by the nefarious Major Merrick, Delilah Dirk and Mister Selim sail to England to clear her name (and beat the tar out of the Major while they're at it). But once on her home turf, Delilah encounters an adversary mightier than the entire British Army: her mother.

Delilah Dirk and the King's Shilling is a brand new adventure with a familiar adventurer and her practical companion. But the situation is far stickier this time around, and it won't be as easy to escape from.

Delilah Dirk is back at it, righting wrongs and investigating treasure and inconveniencing Mister Selim. This time, the story starts in Portugal with the saving of a young boy from his controlling and battle-hungry father. But then, like always, Delilah and Mister Selim fall into a dangerous situation and have to fight their way out of it. Things are different this time around, there's a lot more to do with revenge and Delilah's personal feelings about the scum they come across. And then there's the added struggle of her having to navigate her investigating and adventuring around her unsuspecting mother.

There are hints of why Delilah has made a name for herself in Europe and around the world, why she's spent her days adventuring. She's not the kind of young woman who would sit around at luncheons, flit about at balls and dinners. She needs excitement in her life, she needs to do something. She won't be tied down.

There's some more plot going on in this book, compared to the first one. The first was certainly about Mister Selim and how his life changed after meeting Delilah. Now, things are complicated. The two have fallen, rather handily, into the gaze of an English Major looking to place some blame and espionage onto someone that isn't him.

The artwork is just as it was in the first book, the colours slightly muted once Delilah and Mister Selim arrive in England, the characters' faces expressive and constantly changing. It was obvious whenever Delilah was frustrated or Mister Selim feeling put out or inconvenienced by Delilah's decisions. A good follow-up to the first, a great showing at expanding this world, the time period and its problems, and an intriguing ending that hints at some possible revenge in the future. If you enjoyed the first book, you'll enjoy this.

(I received a finished copy of this book to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (306)

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

Title: Pyromantic
Author: Lish McBride
Release Date: March 21, 2017
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (Macmillan imprint)

From Goodreads:

Ava is having a rough time. Getting rid of Venus didn’t set her free—she’s still Coterie. Her new boss seems like an improvement, but who knows if he’ll stay that way? The Coterie life changes people. And since she’s currently avoiding her friends after (disastrously) turning down a date with Lock, well, everything kind of sucks.

Then she gets sent to handle two local thugs with were-hare Sid. But when they arrive, the thugs are dead and a necromancer has raised them as mindless, aggressive zombies. Ava is faced with an epidemic—something is turning normal creatures into killing machines. Unfortunately, this means she has to work with Lock and his new girl. Worse than that, she has to work with her ex, Ryan. Compared to facing such emotional turmoil, she’d rather take on an entire herd of flesh-eating kelpies . . . or she could just do both. Isn’t she just the lucky gal?

Yessssssssssss. Want. I like Ava, she's so complicated and sort of screwed up. It's interesting seeing her trying to solve situations of the Coterie and supernatural sort while trying to be a normal girl with a social life and a boyfriend. But you're not normal, Ava.