Bonesmith by Nicki Pau Preto (House of the Dead book 1)

“Ready your blade. Defeat the undead.

In the Dominions, the dead linger, violent and unpredictable, unless a bonesmith severs the ghost from its earthly remains. For bonesmith Wren, becoming a valkyr—a ghost-fighting warrior—is a chance to solidify her place in the noble House of Bone and impress her frequently absent father. But when sabotage causes Wren to fail her qualifying trial, she is banished to the Border Wall, the last line of defense against a wasteland called the Breach where the vicious dead roam unchecked.

Determined to reclaim her family’s respect, Wren gets her chance when a House of Gold prince is kidnapped and taken beyond the Wall. To prove she has what it takes to be a valkyr, Wren vows to cross the Breach and rescue the prince. But to do so, she’s forced into an uneasy alliance with one of the kidnappers—a fierce ironsmith called Julian from the exiled House of Iron, the very people who caused the Breach in the first place…and the House of Bone’s sworn enemy.

As they travel, Wren and Julian spend as much time fighting each other as they do the undead, but when they discover there’s more behind the kidnapping than either of them knew, they’ll need to work together to combat the real danger: a dark alliance that is brewing between the living and the undead. - taken from Goodreads.

This book is what happens when unbeknownst to them, two sworn enemies must come together to say the kidnap Prince and discover along the way that everything they believed in was untrue. Determined to win back her place and her family, Ren must forge an alliance with Julian in order to rescue Prince Leo. It doesn't take too long before things heat up between the two of them as they uncover secrets that threaten to topple everything they were led to believe. With an incredible cliffhanger ending, readers will be clamoring for the next book.

This series concludes with Ghostsmith due out on August 13, 2024.

Visit Nicki Pau Preto’s website.

Live, Laugh, Kidnap by Gabby Noone

 

“The only thing Genesis, Holly and Zoe seem to have in common is being stuck in Violet, Montana. Well, that and the fact that Hope Harvest Ministries is trying to ruin their lives.

Genesis lives on a commune that is now an echo of the New Age cult it once was. She’s witnessed power couple Pastor Jay and Ree Reaps transform their sleepy small town into a haven for online Influencers, who flock to Violet, the bible in one hand and Ree’s bestselling ACT LIKE A LADY, PRAY LIKE A BOSS in the other. Now, the Reaps have decided it’s God’s Will™ that they take over Gen’s ranch.

Holly is a begrudging tourist, forced to spend the summer with her estranged father as punishment for her unsavoury behaviour back in LA. To Holly, Hope Harvest is nothing but a gimmicky marketing ploy, but it’s threatening to put her father’s diner out of business and, for some reason, Holly cares.

All Zoe wants is to leave Violet, working thankless shifts at the diner to scrape together enough cash to start a new life with her girlfriend. But Zoe’s mother has lost everything to the church’s multilevel marketing schemes so the little money that Zoe manages to make goes right to debt collectors.

The only solution to their problems is to scam the scammers and protect what’s theirs. It shouldn’t take much – the Reaps’ golden son, an accidental kidnapping, some light blackmail – and the Reaps’ fortune will be in the girls’ much more deserving hands. As long as everything goes according to plan… “ taken from Goodreads.

A hilarious teenage take on a 9 to 5 story line where the kidnappee takes part in a plan to con his parents out of some ransom money so that the four of then can start new lives. Genesis, the girl who grew up in a commune, Zoe, the girl whose mother has given all of their money to the Hope Harvest Church, Holly, who's in town for the summer to stay with her dad, and Dustin, the son of the Church's leaders, join forces not knowing what life has in store for them. A satisfying read. 

Visit Gabby Noone’s website.

Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie (Bone Grace book 1)

“Bone ​Criers have a sacred duty. They alone can keep the dead from preying on the living. But their power to ferry the spirits of the dead into goddess Elara’s Night Heavens or Tyrus’s Underworld comes from sacrifice. The gods demand a promise of dedication. And that promise comes at the cost of the Bone Criers’ one true love.

Ailesse has been prepared since birth to become the matriarch of the Bone Criers, a mysterious famille of women who use strengths drawn from animal bones to ferry dead souls. But first she must complete her rite of passage and kill the boy she’s also destined to love.

Bastien’s father was slain by a Bone Crier and he’s been seeking revenge ever since. Yet when he finally captures one, his vengeance will have to wait. Ailesse’s ritual has begun and now their fates are entwined—in life and in death.

Sabine has never had the stomach for the Bone Criers’ work. But when her best friend Ailesse is taken captive, Sabine will do whatever it takes to save her, even if it means defying their traditions—and their matriarch—to break the bond between Ailesse and Bastien. Before they all die.” - taken from Goodreads.com

Is it acceptable to judge a book by it's cover? In this case, yes!. I love Charlie Bowater’s artwork and have thoroughly enjoyed every book I’ve read that she has designed the covers for. This is an epic fantasy told from the voices of Ailesse, Sabine, and Bastien. Thrown together during a ritual that has gone wrong, Sabine is the character who grows the most since she is no longer under the kidnapped Ailesse’s shadow. Just when you think you know where the story is going, the author throws you a shocking twist or wicked curveball. With a slight cliffhanger ending, readers will be eagerly awaiting the conclusion to this story. 

Book two, Bone Crier’s Dawn, is expected to be published on March 30, 2021.

Visit Kathryn Purdie’s website.

Visit Charlie Bowater’s website.

Ink, Iron, and Glass by Gwendolyn Clare (Ink, Iron, and Glass book 1)

“Can she write a world gone wrong?

A certain pen, a certain book, and a certain person can craft entirely new worlds through a branch of science called scriptology. Elsa comes from one such world that was written into creation by her mother—a noted scriptologist.

But when her home is attacked and her mother abducted, Elsa must cross into the real world and use her own scriptology gifts to find her. In an alternative 19th-century Italy, Elsa finds a secret society of pazzerellones—young people with a gift for mechanics, alchemy or scriptology—and meets Leo, a gorgeous mechanist with a smart mouth and a tragic past. She recruits the help of these fellow geniuses just as an assassin arrives on their doorstep.” - taken from Goodreads.com

Ink, Iron, and Glass is a unique steampunk story with an alternative history twist. Elsa lives in the “scripted” world of Veldana with her mother Jumi. Both mother and daughter are scriptologists, but they and the world they live in are scripted by a man named Montaigne. When Jumi is kidnapped, Elsa is forced to go to the real world to find her. There she finds that Montaigne is dead, his house is on fire, and the worldbook that contains Veldana is missing.

Elsa discovers a group of young adults who are gifted like herself, scriptologists machinists, or Alchemists, who helped her begin to search for her mother. With a rich world building plot, a slow-burning romance, and shocking reveals, fans will be initially heartbroken but clamoring for the next book in the series.

Book two, Mist, Metal, and Ash, is due out February 19, 2019.

Visit Gwendolyn Clare’s website.

Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton (Rebel of the Sands book 2)

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first book in the series, Rebel of the Sands, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

Check out Book Series Recaps for a refresher on the first book.

Please visit the Recaptains blog if you need a refresher on the first book.

“Rebel by chance. Traitor by choice.”

“The sizzling, un-put-downable sequel to the bestselling Rebel of the Sands!

Mere months ago, gunslinger Amani al'Hiza fled her dead-end hometown on the back of a mythical horse with the mysterious foreigner Jin, seeking only her own freedom. Now she's fighting to liberate the entire desert nation of Miraji from a bloodthirsty sultan who slew his own father to capture the throne.

When Amani finds herself thrust into the epicenter of the regime—the Sultan's palace—she's determined to bring the tyrant down. Desperate to uncover the Sultan's secrets by spying on his court, she tries to forget that Jin disappeared just as she was getting closest to him, and that she's a prisoner of the enemy. But the longer she remains, the more she questions whether the Sultan is really the villain she's been told he is, and who’s the real traitor to her sun-bleached, magic-filled homeland.

Forget everything you thought you knew about Miraji, about the rebellion, about djinni and Jin and the Blue-Eyed Bandit. In Traitor to the Throne, the only certainty is that everything will change.” - taken from Goodreads.com

I don’t know where to start with this second book in the trilogy. It is a massive volume that took me a while to read, not because the story was slow but because of all of the new information Hamilton divulges to the reader.. Amani is not only on a journey with her fellow rebels to bring down the Sultan, but she finds herself in a much more personal quest than she ever dreamed of. Secrets about her life and missing pieces fall into place when she least expects it. Several new characters are introduced and readers are submerged into life at the Sultan’s palace where Amani begins to question who the real enemy is. No second book slowness here and the ending sets up the next book perfectly. Readers will be anticipating Amani’s continuing adventure.

Book three is expected to be published sometime in 2018.

Visit Alwyn Hamilton’s website.

Caraval by Stephanie Garber (Caraval book 1)

“Remember, it’s only a game.”

“Welcome to Caraval, where nothing is quite what it seems.

Scarlett has never left the tiny isle of Trisda, pining from afar for the wonder of Caraval, a once-a-year week-long performance where the audience participates in the show.

Caraval is Magic. Mystery. Adventure. And for Scarlett and her beloved sister Tella it represents freedom and an escape from their ruthless, abusive father.

When the sisters' long-awaited invitations to Caraval finally arrive, it seems their dreams have come true. But no sooner have they arrived than Tella vanishes, kidnapped by the show's mastermind organizer, Legend.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But nonetheless she quickly becomes enmeshed in a dangerous game of love, magic and heartbreak. And real or not, she must find Tella before the game is over, and her sister disappears forever.” taken from Goodreads.com

Wow! This book truly lived up to all of the hype surrounding it. I loved how Scarlett’s story was depicted through the letters and clues between her and the mysterious Legend. The writing is absolutely beautiful and makes the reader feel as if they are right alongside Scarlett as she searches for her sister, Tella. Even though the reader may think they know where the story is going, they will be pleasantly surprised to find out that the story isn’t as predictable as thought.

Even though Scarlett’s story is somewhat wrapped up, the last scene in the book sets up for the conclusion due out sometime in 2018.

Visit Stephanie Garber’s website.

Zero Day by Jan Gangsei

“Trust No One.”

Addie Webster disappeared without a trace from the Governor’s Mansion while her father was  Governor of Virginia. Eight years old at the time, she and her best friend, Darrow Fergusson, were playing a game of Connect Four that turned out badly when Darrow was about to win but Addie ruined the game so that she wouldn’t lose. Arguing, Addie stomps off. A few minutes later, Darrow realizes that he can never stay mad at Addie and goes to look for her. After an hour of searching, it becomes evident that she is missing. Addie is gone without a trace. Darrow, whose mother is Governor Webster’s Chief of Staff, blames himself. He keeps a red checker from the game in his pocket as a reminder that maybe some day he will get a do over as far as addie is concerned.

Eight years have passed and Governor Mark Webster is now President Mark Webster. He is in the middle of his turbulent first term. When a girl appears at a truck stop in the middle of Pennsylvania claiming to be the missing Adele Webster, the Secret Service begins a relentless train of questioning. A DNA test is performed and the results come back that the girl claiming to be Adele Webster is in fact Addie. Reintroduction with her family now living in the White House goes as well as expected, especially since her young sister Ellie isn’t there. Addie also meets her replacement, youngest sister Mackenzie, who doesn’t understand what is going on. Soon, someone realizes that Addie has more than a few secrets about her abduction and return.

In the midst of Addie’s reappearance, Cerberus ups it’s cyber attacks. President Webster is against electronic surveillance and the government has widely scaled back on “spying” on its citizens. Cerberus, an unknown terrorist group who believes President Webster is wrong in his surveillance stance, is trying to prove how easily cyber attacks can happen. Up until six months ago when Cerberus stopped the U.S nuclear power grid from melting down, the group had only been known to disrupt terrorist run Web sites and altering authorities. Not happy with President Webster’s stance on surveillance, Cerberus is attacking sites around the capital to show how wrong he is. One person, General James McQueen who was named by the president to look into Cerberus, is investigating what is going on and he believes Addie Webster is involved some how. He “recruits” Darrow to spy on her, who doesn’t like having his hand forced. Soon, thrust into the political storm surrounding Addie Webster, Darrow is looking to not fail his friend a second time.

The question now becomes, why after all of these years has Addie reappeared? Will Darrow spy on his friend? What really happened to Addie during the eight years she spent captive? Who was her captor and what reason was she taken? What secrets is Addie hiding from everyone? Can Darrow save Addie Webster?

Readers will be racing for the end of this book full of mystery, political intrigue and psychological thriller.

Visit Jan Gangsei‘s website.

Dust Lands Trilogy by Moira Young

Book one - Blood Red Road

“In the Dustlands, you fight or you die.”

Eighteen year old twins Saba and Lugh are complete opposites, right down to their looks. Lugh is fair like their dead mother while she is dark like their father. The three of them liv with their younger sister Emmi live along the shores of Silverlake, or what's left of it. Rain hasn't fallen in a long time and its shoreline has shrunken. Pa believes that he can read the future in the stars but no matter what he ritual he does, the rain doesn't come. Frustrated, Lugh is ready to leave him behind and Saba will follow her twin anywhere. Before they can make any real plans to leave, a terrible dust storm cuts across the lake and heads their way. Lugh and Saba race towards the storm cellar where their father and Emmi await them. Looking for her pet crow, Nero, the twins have to crouch down to keep from being struck by lightning. Saba is thrown off of her feet and Lugh helps her get up. The storm passes and leaves a red haze. Then out of the haze comes five men riding horses.

One of the men is Procter John, their neighbor who briefly visits once a month. They asks him if Lugh was the one born at midwinter and Procter tells them yes and that he has been looking after him like they had asked. The man asks Lugh how old he is and he answers eighteen. The twins know that something is wrong. The man pulls out a bolt shooter and fires at Procter John, striking him dead. Lugh tells Saba to go fetch their Pa but she won't leave him. Go, he yells and heads for the lake while Saba runs to the storm shelter. Pa asks her if they have come and she realizes that he has seen this day in the stars. She runs into the shanty looking for her crossbow and comes out and shakes her Pa. He finally comes to his senses and she sees the old Pa from before her mother died. He tells her that his time is nearly up. He has only been able to see glimpses of the future but that she must stay strong. Lugh, Emmi and others will need her and not to give up. The horsemen have caught up to Lugh and have surrounded him. Saba and Pa take up their crossbows and run to Lugh. They fire and miss while two of the riders have lassoed Lugh. They dismounted and bound his wrists and ankles. Saba and Pa take aim again and another rider turns and fires his bolt shooter. Pa falls and Saba realizes the bolt has gone through his heart. Pa is dead. She runs towards Lugh but her arrows fly wild in her anger. One of the riders fires a bolt that strikes her in her hand. Bound, the riders hoist Lugh onto a horse. Saba screams and begs them to take her as well. Lugh tells her to go back and take care of Emmi. Saba promises Lugh that she will find him as the men ride away with her brother. Emmi runs out of the shelter and takes in the death and destruction left behind. She runs to Pa and Saba falls to the ground. The skies open up and rain finally falls.

Why did the horsemen come after Lugh? What was so special about him being born at midwinter? Will Saba be able to keep her promises to Lugh and Pa? Can she find Lugh? What happens to her and Emmi?

Book two – Rebel Heart

“No one is safe.”

Book three – Raging Star

“Loyalty and betrayal. Lovers and enemies.”

Dead To You by Lisa McMann

“Some memories are better left untouched.”

At the age of seven, Ethan De Wilde and his younger brother Blake were playing in the front yard when a car pulled up. Two strange men call Ethan over and he gets in. They drive away and Ethan is not to be found after his parents and the community conducts an exhaustive search. It turns out he went to live with a woman named Ellen who couldn’t have children. They scarped out an existence until she wasn’t able to keep him anymore and left him in a group home in Nebraska. Ethan lived there for a short time before eking out a merger existence on the streets. After spending time at the public library researching missing children, Ethan finds the website his parents set up to search for him. He makes the phone call and his family comes to pick him up.

Things have changed in the last nine years. His sister Grace, the replacement baby, is now six and is just as confused as Ethan over his sudden reappearance. Back home in Minnesota, Ethan has trouble remembering anything about his life prior or his abduction and steadfastly refuses to talk about Ellen. Blake is angry with him over not only his leaving but his abrupt reentry and subsequent turmoil her has brought to everyone’s life.

Struggling to fit into his old life, Ethan is just looking for another escape. Very few of the pieces of his former life are making sense and it seems that once again he is tearing his family apart. Why did Ethan leave with complete strangers nine years ago? What happened to him during the nine years he was gone? Why is Ethan having difficulty trying to recall even the simplest of memories about his life before his abduction? What really happened to Ethan De Wilde?

Visit Lisa McMann’s website.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano (Chemical Garden Trilogy book one)

"What if you knew exactly when you would die?"

Science perfected the human body seventy years ago. All illnesses such as cancer and even allergies were eradicated. Soon natural selection was pushed aside for the new technology of healthy children. This first generation is approaching old age gracefully and is practically immortal. Their own children are an entirely different matter. Something has gone terribly wrong. The life span for males stops at age twenty-five and at twenty for females. For the past fifty years, the first generation has watched its children die and the wealthy households will not concede defeat. Young girls are collected/kidnapped by the Gatherers for a profit to breed new children for the wealthy. People are frantically searching for a cure for the virus.

Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery has been chosen by the Gatherers. Distinctive with her two different colored eyes, she and a van load of other girls are transported to Florida where three are chosen. The rest are killed. When Rhine awakes, she finds out that she is to become one of the new wives to twenty-one year old Linden Ashby, the house governor. Rhine and her fellow sister wives, Jenna and Cecily, reside on a floor to themselves along with Linden’s first wife, Rose. Rose has just turned twenty and is sick with the virus and dying. Rhine soon strikes up a friendship with Rose. Rose fills her in about their husband and makes Rose promise to look after Linden after her death. It’s a promise Rhine doesn’t intend to keep.


Soon Rhine and her sister wives each find their separate niches in the household. Young Cecily is enjoying her new role and aims to please their new husband. Jenna keeps to herself and observes all that is going on. Rhine continues to dream and look for a way to escape back to Manhattan and her brother Rowan. She begins to confide in her attendant Gabriel and soon sparks begin to fly. But life in the mansion isn’t free. Linden’s father, housemaster Vaughn, keeps the girls on tight leashes, especially Rhine. As time goes on, Rhine begins to learn all of the intricacies and intimacies of her new family, the good and the bad.


Will Rhine accept her new role as one of Linden’s wives or does she find a way to escape from underneath Housemaster Vaughn’s control? What secrets does she uncover along the way? Who among the wives has the first baby? Is Linden really as clueless about his father as he seems? Join Rhine’s journey as she struggles to make the most of the hand she has been dealt?

Book two in the trilogy, Fever is due out February 2011.

Visit Lauren DeStefano’s website.


Visit the Chemical Garden Trilogy website.