The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

Title: The Madness Underneath
Author: Maureen Johnson
Publisher: HarperCollins
Released: February 26th 2013
Pages: 290 (Paperback)
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When madness stalks the streets of London, no one is safe…

There's a creepy new terror haunting modern-day London.
Fresh from defeating a Jack the Ripper killer, Rory must put her new-found hunting skills to the test before all hell breaks loose…

But enemies are not always who you expect them to be and crazy times call for crazy solutions. A thrilling teen mystery.

Do you ever read a book that you just don't know how to review? For me, this is one of them. I'm trying to find the words to explain how I feel about this read, but nothing I think of really sums up what I mean. I guess the closest thing to it would be disappointing.

Blog Tour: Breaking Glass by Lisa Amowitz (Review)

About The Author

Lisa Amowitz was born in Queens and raised in the wilds of Long Island, New York where she climbed trees, thought small creatures lived under rocks and studied ant hills. And drew. A lot. When she hit her teens, she realized that Long Island was too small for her and she needed to escape. So she went to college in Pittsburgh. Go figure. On leaving college, Lisa became a graphic designer living in New York City. She eventually married her husband of a zillion years, had two lovely children, and was swept away to a fairy tale life in the Bronx, where, unbelievably there are more trees and wilderness than her hometown. She can see the Hudson River from her kitchen window. Lisa has been a professor of graphic design at her beloved Bronx Community College where she has been tormenting and cajoling students for nearly seventeen years. She started writing eight years ago because she wanted something to illustrate, but somehow, instead ended up writing YA. Probably because her mind is too dark and twisted for small children.

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Review

Title: Breaking Glass
Author: Lisa Amowitz
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Released: July 9th 2013
Pages: 297 (Paperback)
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On the night seventeen-year-old Jeremy Glass winds up in the hospital with a broken leg and a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit, his secret crush, Susannah, disappears. When he begins receiving messages from her from beyond the grave, he's not sure whether they're real or if he's losing his grip on reality. Clue by clue, he gets closer to unraveling the mystery, and soon realizes he must discover the truth or become the next victim himself.

I finished this book well over a week ago, yet I'm only just getting around to writing this review. Why? Breaking Glass left me utterly speechless. I don't think I'll ever be able to find words accurate enough to describe just how amazing and suspenseful this book really is.

15 Minutes by Jill Cooper (Review, Excerpt + Giveaway)

About The Author

Jill loves to blend horror, comedy, the supernatural, and love, through her novels. A fan of genre blending, her work strives to cross boundaries, but most of all strives to entertain. She loves soft cuddly cats, warm blankets, and paranormal romances. Jill resides in Massachusetts, is constantly renovating her home that she shares with her husband, young daughter, and two skittish cats.

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Review

Title: 15 Minutes

Author: Jill Cooper

Publisher: Self

Released: June 15th 2013

Pages: 236 (eBook)

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I have 15 minutes to save my mother’s life….

15 minutes is all the Rewind Agency gives you in the past, but for Lara Crane it’s enough time to race through the city, find her mother, and stop her from being killed in a mugging that happened over ten years ago.

But that’s not how it happened. The story she’s been told all her life is a lie and when Lara takes a bullet meant for her mother, her future changes forever.

The love of her life acts like a stranger. Her simple life is replaced with a giant house, glamorous clothes and a new boyfriend. 

Except someone knows her secret. And he will try to stop her at every turn as she races against the clock to unravel a dangerous conspiracy.

Science fiction stories featuring time travel can either go really, really well, or really, really badly. With an electrifying plot, an amazing concept and likeable characters, 15 Minutes is one of the best I've read yet.

Heist Society by Ally Carter

Title: Heist Society
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Released: February 9th 2010
Pages: 291 (Paperback)
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When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria...to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own--scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster's art collection has been stolen, and he wants it returned. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.

For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family’s (very crooked) history - and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way.

Being a fan of Carter's Gallagher Girl series, when I saw Heist Society, I knew I had to read it. Yeah, I'd seen a few negative reviews here and there - but her writing isn't for everyone. Turns out that statement can't be more true, and now it seems that her writing just isn't for me anymore.

Unravelling by Elizabeth Norris

Title: Unravelling
Author: Elizabeth Norris
Publisher: HarperCollins
Released: April 24th 2012
Pages: 445 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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STOP THE COUNTDOWN, SAVE THE WORLD…

Leaving the beach, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit head on by a pickup truck.

And killed.

Then Ben Michaels, resident stoner, is leaning over her. And even though it isn’t possible, she knows Ben somehow brought her back to life…

Meanwhile, Janelle’s father, a special agent for the FBI, starts working on a case that seems strangely connected to Ben. Digging in his files, Janelle finds a mysterious device – one that seems to be counting down to something that will happen in 23 days and 10 hours time.

That something? It might just be the end of the world. And if Janelle wants to stop it, she’s going to need to uncover Ben’s secrets – and keep from falling in love with him in the process…

From spending the last eight years obsessing over Doctor Who, I'm a big fan of the science fiction genre. If you've read a few of my sci-fi reviews, you'll know that I'm absolutely rubbish with physics; I just can't get my head around it, which is why it's kind of weird how much I love this genre. From the synopsis I figured that there would be some action sequences and maybe a sci-fi element or two, but boy was I in for a surprise!

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Title: The Diviners
Author: Libba Bray
Publisher: Atom
Released: September 1st 2012
Pages: 592 (Hardcover)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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It's 1920s New York City. It's flappers and Follies, jazz and gin. It's after the war but before the depression. And for certain group of bright young things it's the opportunity to party like never before.

For Evie O'Neill, it's escape. She's never fit in in small town Ohio and when she causes yet another scandal, she's shipped off to stay with an uncle in the big city. But far from being exile, this is exactly what she's always wanted: the chance to show how thoroughly modern and incredibly daring she can be.

But New York City isn't about just jazz babies and follies girls. It has a darker side. Young women are being murdered across the city. And these aren't crimes of passion. They're gruesome. They're planned. They bear a strange resemblance to an obscure group of tarot cards. And the New York City police can't solve them alone.

Evie wasn't just escaping the stifling life of Ohio, she was running from the knowledge of what she could do. She has a secret. A mysterious power that could help catch the killer - if he doesn't catch her first.

FINALLY! I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED THIS! I feel like I deserve a medal; The Diviners is nothing if not a marathon read, with almost 600 pages! As soon as I saw the US cover, I knew I needed to read it - but when I saw the UK cover, I absolutely fell in love. Although the book wasn't quite what I was expecting, I will stick by saying that the covers are utterly breathtaking - perhaps some of the best I have ever come across? I think this is a perfect example to not judge a book by its cover, because it can be misleading - for better or for worse.

Prep School Confidential by Kara Taylor

Title: Prep School Confidential
Author: Kara Taylor
Publisher: St. Martins Press
Release: July 30th 2013
Pages: 304 (eBook)
Pre-Order: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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Anne Dowling practically runs her exclusive academy on New York’s Upper East Side—that is, until she accidentally burns part of it down and gets sent to a prestigious boarding school outside of Boston. Determined to make it back to New York, Anne could care less about making friends at the preppy Wheatley School. That is, until her roommate, Isabella’s body is found in the woods behind the school. 

When everyone else is oddly silent, Anne becomes determined to uncover the truth no matter how many rules she has to break to do it. With the help of Isabella’s twin brother Anthony, and a cute classmate named Brent, Anne discovers that Isabella wasn’t quite the innocent nerdy girl she pretended to be. But someone will do anything to stop Anne’s snooping in this fast-paced, unputdownable read—even if it means framing her for Isabella’s murder.

All I really have to say about this book is HELL TO THE YES! Okay, I have a lot more to say than just that, but as a quick summary, this book was amazing. I'm a sucker for a mystery/thriller novel, so that combined with girls who may as well be straight out of Gossip Girl is a must-read. However, whatever expectations I may have held before I read it was nothing compared to how I felt afterwards; Taylor blew those expectations right out of the water.

Unremembered by Jessica Brody

Title: Unremembered
Author: Jessica Crody
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Released: February 28th 2013
Pages: 303 (Paperback)
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A catastrophic plan crash leaves one survivor: a girl with no memory.
Who is she?
Where does she come from?
Nobody knows and no one comes forward to claim her.
Haunted by a looming threat she can't remember and plagued by abilities she doesn't understand, she struggles to recall who she is. But every clue leads to more questions. And she's running out of time to answer them.
Her only hope is a boy who claims they were once in love.
Alone and on the run, who should she trust? And what if she discovers that she is safer with a past that stays unremembered?

The more I think about it, the lower the books rating dips. The concept of Unremembered has been done - over and over and over again. Even so, I still go into these novels with a shred of hope that this time will be different; that this time, the book will be what the synopsis promises. Unfortunately it wasn't, and whilst I enjoyed some bits, the plot overall seemed a bit dead.

Insomnia by J. R. Johansson

Title: Insomnia

Author: J. R. Johansson

Publisher: Flux

Released: June 1st 2013

Pages: 351 (eBook)

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Her eyes saved his life.
Her dreams released his darkness.

After four years of sleeplessness, high school junior Parker Chipp can't take much more. Every night, instead of sleeping, he enters the dreams of the last person he's made eye contact with. If he doesn't sleep soon, Parker will die.

Then he meets Mia. Her dreams, calm and beautifully uncomplicated, allow him blissful rest that is utterly addictive. But what starts out as a chance meeting turns into an obsession; Parker's furious desire for what he needs pushes him to extremes he never thought he'd go. And when someone begins to terrorizing Mia with twisted death threats, Parker's memory blackouts leave him doubting his own innocence.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Title: A Monster Calls
Author: Patrick Ness, Siobhan Dowd
Illustrator: Jim Kay
Publisher: Walker Books
Released: September 27th 2011
Pages: 215 (Paperback)
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The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth.

Forget Me Never by Gina Blaxill

Title: Forget Me Never
Author: Gina Blaxill
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Released: September 27th 2012
Pages: 288 (Paperback)
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When Sophie's cousin Danielle dies after a fall from her balcony, the police dismiss her death as suicide. She had broken up with her boyfriend and had suffered from depression in the past. Sophie isn't so sure, however, and when she finds a memory stick in a pair of Dani's old jeans, some new photos and information come to light that point to something more sinister. Sophie and her friend Reece investigate further and soon find out that Dani was involved with something very dark and very dangerous. As Sophie and Reece become more and more deeply involved they put themselves in huge danger too, accessing secret data, facing kidnap attempts and worse. And as they uncover the terrible truth about what really happened to Dani, Sophie and Reece must also face their feelings for each other...

Fractured by Teri Terry

Title: Fractured
Author: Teri Terry
Publisher: Orchard
Released: April 4th 2013
Pages: 432 (Paperback)
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How do you know where to go when you don't remember where you came from?

Kyla's memory has been erased,
her personality wiped blank,
her memories lost for ever.

Or so she thought.

Kyla shouldn't be able to remember anything. But she can - and she's beginning to realise that there are a lot of dark secrets locked away in her memories. When a mysterious man from her past comes back into her life, she thinks she's on her way to finding the truth. But the more she learns about her history, the more confusing her future becomes...

Slated by Teri Terry

Title: Slated
Author: Teri Terry
Publisher: Orchard
Released: May 3rd 2012
Pages: 448 (Paperback)
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Kyla’s memory has been erased,
her personality wiped blank,
her memories lost for ever.

She’s been Slated.

The government claims she was a terrorist, and that they are giving her a second chance - as long as she plays by their rules. But echoes of the past whisper in Kyla’s mind. Someone is lying to her, and nothing is as it seems. Who can she trust in her search for the truth?

Dark Eyes by William Richter

Title: Dark Eyes
Author: William Richter
Publisher: Razorbill
Released: March 15th 2012
Pages: 384 (Paperback)
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Dark Eyes is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens. Perfect for fans of Stieg Larson and Sophie McKenzie, it's an adrenaline-pumping and epic crime thriller with a dramatic personal mystery at its heart.

Born in Russia but adopted by a wealthy American family as a baby, Wallis Stoneman was brought up in a world of glamorous luxury. Then at the age of sixteen, beautiful and rebellious Wallis rejects the life that doesn't feel like her own and lives as a street-kid on the gritty streets of New York.

But the streets throw up more than she bargained for and she discovers a deadly secret to her past that will change Wallis' life forever. Her real father is a terrifyingly dangerous Russian gangster. And he is on the hunt for her mother. He will stop at nothing and no one - even his own blood - to find her.

Can Wallis find her mother before her father kills them both?

Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher

Title: Ketchup Clouds
Author: Annabel Pitcher
Publisher: Orion
Released: December 27th 2012
Pages: 296 (Hardcover)
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Fifteen-year-old Zoe has a secret—a dark and terrible secret that she can't confess to anyone she knows. But then one day she hears of a criminal, Stuart Harris, locked up on death row in Texas. Like Zoe, Stuart is no stranger to secrets. Or lies. Or murder.

Full of heartache yet humour, Zoe tells her story in the only way she can—in letters to the man in prison in America. Armed with a pen, Zoe takes a deep breath, eats a jam sandwich, and begins her tale of love and betrayal.

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Title: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time
Author: Mark Haddon
Publisher: Random House
Released: July 31st 2003
Pages: 272 (Hardback)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US


The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.

Between by Jessica Warman

Title: Between
Author: Jessica Warman
Publisher: Egmont Books
Released: August 2nd 2011
Pages: 437 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US

Elizabeth Valchar wakes up after spending her eighteenth birthday party on her family's yacht to investigate a thumping noise. What she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and everything in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect--or innocent.

So there's a bit of a backstory as to how I came across this novel in the first place. I work in my school's library, and I came up with the idea to host a book poster competition, where someone would design a poster advertising a favourite book of theirs, and would have to give a brief synopsis and explain why they liked it so much. I was part of the judging panel at the end, and the definite winner was a girl who designed a poster for Between. As soon as I read her reasoning for loving it, I knew I had to read it - and voila! The next week, the library had a brand new copy.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Title: The Name of the Star
Author: Maureen Johnson
Publisher: HarperCollins
Released: September 29th 2011
Pages: 374 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon


The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago. 

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Throne of Glass
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Released: August 2nd 2012
Pages: 404 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon

Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?

I stayed up so late last night to try and finish this book. Whilst it was gripping from start to end, the final 100 pages...I just couldn't put it down! I know I can say that a lot, but literally this time, I couldn't put it down. Every chapter ended on a cliffhanger, and just when I said to myself, Okay after I've finished this chapter I will put it down, another mystery was about to be unraveled! I have read many fantasy novels and fairytale retellings, but I have never come across a book as unique and as amazing as this. Maas, where have you been all my life?

Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

Title: Dance of Shadows
Author: Yelena Black
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release: February 12th 2013
Pages: 300 (Paperback)
Pre-Order: Amazon

Dancing with someone is an act of trust. Elegant and intimate; you're close enough to kiss, close enough to feel your partner's heartbeat. But for Vanessa, dance is deadly – and she must be very careful who she trusts...

Vanessa Adler attends an elite ballet school – the same one her older sister, Margaret, attended before she disappeared. Vanessa feels she can never live up to her sister's shining reputation. But Vanessa, with her glorious red hair and fair skin, has a kind of power when she dances – she loses herself in the music, breathes different air, and the world around her turns to flames...

Soon she attracts the attention of three men: gorgeous Zep, mysterious Josh, and the great, enigmatic choreographer Josef Zhalkovsky. When Josef asks Vanessa to dance the lead in the Firebird, she has little idea of the danger that lies ahead – and the burning forces about to be unleashed.