#FridayReads If you like #YA I can recommend these books…#amreading

#FridayReads If you like YA then I can recommend this mixed set of books.

22919146Aranka is a moderately normal teenager until those who hold true power in today’s world decide she’s a threat.

The accepted image of the modern world is an illusion. A clandestine force usurps the desires and emotions of individuals, and those who won’t conform must be crushed to preserve the appearance of free will. Aranka and a few others stand in the way, not because they are rebels, just because of the fluke in their genes. Those with power will stop at nothing to protect their supremacy. Aranka is kidnapped and forced to watch as her fellow prisoners are killed one by one.

A small band of outlaws from every corner of the globe fight to free the captives and preserve their own freedom. Kenyen, a young doctor, ventures into the heart of oppression but he can’t stop the terror. He just wants to save one life. In the process he uncovers “the Seed,” the first flicker of hope in a thousand years. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

33956A wonderful and terrifying series by a new writer about a young boy training to be an exorcist. Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has been apprenticed to the local Spook. The job is hard, the Spook is distant and many apprentices have falled before Thomas. Somehow Thomas must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches and bind boggarts. But when he is tricked into freeing Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the County, the horror begins. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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Rose comes from the capital of the Confederation of Cities where its citizens live in luxury and the greatest fashion statement of all is being Altered. People change everything about the way they look as often as they do their hairstyle but Rose is different. Her position of privilege has made her an outcast and led her to suspect that something sinister is happening to the citizens and flees the capital along with a past that imprisons her in search of a fresh start in the Land of the Unaltered.

Flynn lives in the Land of the Unaltered and hates the capital and everything it stands for. So when a spoiled capital girl is assigned to work with him, he wants nothing to do with her and is prepared to make her life miserable. But Flynn was not prepared for someone like Rose. She doesn’t fit the mold he expected and finds himself strongly attracted to her. As she continues to surprise and outwit him, they begin to forge a bond that is tested when they discover a secret that could change everything they know about Land of the Unaltered.

Land of the Unaltered is a Dystopian Romance and is the first installment of the The Confederation Chronicles.   Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

24457914High school junior Eris Miller thinks she’s having a bad day when her roommate’s boyfriend catches her stepping out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel. Then she gets abducted by scaly six-armed aliens with a strange fondness for the color blue, and her day suddenly gets a whole lot worse.

Trapped on a spaceship bound for the slave markets of Sirius B, Eris fears she’ll never see her home again. But then fate whisks her away from her reptilian captors and into the arms of Varrin, a fast-talking space pirate who promises to deliver her safely back to Earth. He claims to have her best interests at heart, but Eris soon discovers that her charming rescuer has a hidden agenda.

As they race across the galaxy, outrunning a villainous figure from Varrin’s past, Eris begins to realize that their relationship is putting her planet, her life and her heart in imminent danger. She knows that trusting Varrin could prove deadly … but what other choice does she have? Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

18296529Cherry blossom lipstick: check
Smokey eyes: check
Skinny jeans: check
Dead kid in the mirror: check

For sixteen year old Mattie Hathaway, this is her normal everyday routine. She’s been able to see ghosts since her mother tried to murder her when she was five years old. No way does she want anyone to know she can talk to spooks. Being a foster kid is hard enough without being labeled a freak too.

Normally, she just ignores the ghosts and they go away. That is until she see’s the ghost of her foster sister… Sally.

Everyone thinks Sally’s just another runaway, but Mattie knows the truth—she’s dead. Murdered. Mattie feels like she has to help Sally, but she can’t do it alone. Against her better judgment, she teams up with a young policeman, Officer Dan, and together they set out to discover the real truth behind Sally’s disappearance.

Only to find out she’s dealing with a much bigger problem, a serial killer, and she may be the next victim…

Will Mattie be able to find out the truth before the killer finds her? Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

22895433Evil is slouching into Providence, crawling into the rotting core of the Elders’ regime, and only a pariah girl seems to care.

Even in Providence, city of eternal night, there are rebels. Deborah refuses an arranged marriage and runs. But more is at stake than her unhappy future. Her destiny is to become the catalyst that brings down the whole corrupt edifice and its creator—Abaddon, dark angel of the bottomless pit.
Deborah runs to find her mother, the legendary Green Woman, who is drawing a host of dreams and heroes from the Memory of the world to defeat the evil that thrives in Providence. But the Green Woman’s strength is failing—she needs her daughter to take up the burden.
In the apocalyptic wasteland outside the city, Jonah, another runaway, is waiting—to give Deborah his help, then his heart. Together they brave the terrors of the desert. Together they believe they can change the world.
A girl, a boy, and a pack of wolf-dog pups search for the Green Woman, but Abaddon has set horrors on their trail that not even courage and boundless love can defeat.

The Dark Citadel is the first volume of The Green Woman series, an epic story of evil, heroism, bravery, treachery, hatred, and the invincible power of love. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

18046743Seventeen-year-old Raine Cooper has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s disappearance, her mother’s erratic behavior and the possibility of her boyfriend relocating. The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her.

Raine is drawn to Torin’s dark sexiness against her better judgment, until he saves her life with weird marks and she realizes he is different. But by healing her, Torin changes something inside Raine. Now she can’t stop thinking about him. Half the time, she’s not sure whether to fall into his arms or run.

Scared, she sets out to find out what Torin is. But the closer she gets to the truth the more she uncovers something sinister about Torin. What Torin is goes back to an ancient mythology and Raine is somehow part of it. Not only are she and her friends in danger, she must choose a side, but the wrong choice will cost Raine her life. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

 

THE GHOST FILES #2 by @AprylBaker #YA #Horror #Bookreview

The Ghost Files 2 (The Ghost Files, #2)The Ghost Files 2 by Apryl Baker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Ghost Files #2 is book two in this #YA #Horror series. I enjoyed #1 and downloaded this immediately to continue following the life of Mattie Hathaway, a reaper of souls. Mattie has been in the foster care system most of her life. She is just recovering from a violent attack. She is surrounded by friends; Officer Dan Richards, Dr Olivet, Mary, Meg and Eric a ghost.

Mattie can speak to ghosts, in fact she has abilities to help them cross over and she is a beacon to them, but it has its downsides as darker creatures also want her powers. Officer Dan is helping Mattie find out about her mother, he arrives to take her to her birthday party, but they are confronted by a demon. They only just escape in time and the party meal gets abandoned when it shows up again.

Dan and Mattie hole-up in Dan’s flat, but even here Mattie is drawn to dangerous ghostly beings, but its a revelation from reliable Dan which breaks Mattie’s heart and has her running away. She takes off to New Orleans to help Dr Olivet with a haunted house, but the City of the Dead is so full of ghosts who want help that Mattie is overwhelmed and passes out for three days.

Dr Olivet is working with the Malone family and they help Mattie to keep some of the ghosts at bay, but the house they are investigating holds some very strong evil characters who will stop at nothing to get to Mattie and her powers.

This series has a very compelling storyline, I really enjoy Mattie’s sharp witty narration and there were some unexpected twists and turns which I enjoyed. I did want to learn more about some of the twists and storylines introduced and a couple of times I felt lost. For instance friends set up a party for you and you just leave and no one complains for follows it up? Mattie fears flying, yet next day she’s flying to New Orleans? Throw in a handful of typos and this book was good, but not quite good enough. I’m sure more of the storylines I’m interested in will be explored in the next books in the series.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads

THE GHOST FILES #1 by @AprylBaker #YA #Horror #Bookreview

The Ghost Files (The Ghost Files, #1)The Ghost Files by Apryl Baker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I chose this book after a search on the #FridayFiveChallenge, not a genre I would normally read, but really enjoyed it.

The Ghost Files #1 is a #YA #Horror set in North Carolina. Sixteen year old Mattie Hathaway is a foster kid. The book opens with her getting ready to go to a party when a ghost appears. This isn’t unusual for Mattie, she’s been seeing ghosts and ignoring them since she was five years old, she’s just never told anyone.

The ghost of Emma is around eight years old, she has a hole in her head.

Mattie leaves her foster sister Sally at home while she heads off to the party, but later the ghost of Sally appears at the party. Mattie knows she’s dead. Rushing home she begs Mrs Olsen to ring the police, but she’s reluctant because Sally told her she was going to a party too. She insists on waiting a few hours. Desperate to help find Sally’s killer, Mattie bravely calls out to the ghosts. Instead of Emma a small boy appears, he too has a shot wound. Then a gruesome ghost physically attacks Mattie and she ends up in hospital.

With no other option but to tell someone about the ghosts, Mattie confides in officer Dan Richards. Dan is very sceptical, but agrees to help. Another ghost appears, Mary, she’s beaten, but Mattie believes she is still alive, promising to find and help Mary before it’s too late. Mattie is convinced there is a serial killer attacking kids and time is running out.

I liked Mattie, she is sharp witted, independent and strong willed. She’s been in foster care long enough that she knows the system and how to survive. Horror isn’t for everyone, and I need to sleep at night, but because this is #YA I found the horror compelling to read rather than frightening. Really enjoyed the twists and turns in this and have downloaded the second book in the series.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Would you BUY or PASS? #FridayFiveChallenge #Horror #YA THE GHOST FILES by @AprylBaker

This fun feature is a mini workshop. We look at book covers just from their thumbnail pictures at online selling book sites and make quick fire buying decisions. We look from a READERS Point of View and this exercise is very EYE OPENING.

Mug 1

From the book cover we will browse the book description, price and some of the reviews BUT we only have 5 MINUTES.

WE PLAY POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

Join in and see where it leads.

Grab a coffee and spend 5 Minutes on this exercise.

 

In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions from small postage stamp size book covers (Thumb-nails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they really spend making that buying decision?

AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?

My Friday Five Challenge is this….. IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES….

1) Go to any online book supplier,

2) Randomly choose a category,

3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,

4) Read the book Bio/ Description for this book,

5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,

6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?

(then write a little analysis about your decision)

Share your post, use #FridayFiveChallenge @rosieamber1 and I’ll help share all relevant posts.

Recently I’ve been stretching my genre reading to cover new areas, today I bravely searched for HORROR.

Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Book Description

Cherry blossom lipstick: check
Smokey eyes: check
Skinny jeans: check
Dead kid in the mirror: check

For sixteen year old Mattie Hathaway, this is her normal everyday routine. She’s been able to see ghosts since her mother tried to murder her when she was five years old. No way does she want anyone to know she can talk to spooks. Being a foster kid is hard enough without being labeled a freak too.

Normally, she just ignores the ghosts and they go away. That is until she see’s the ghost of her foster sister… Sally.

Everyone thinks Sally’s just another runaway, but Mattie knows the truth—she’s dead. Murdered. Mattie feels like she has to help Sally, but she can’t do it alone. Against her better judgment, she teams up with a young policeman, Officer Dan, and together they set out to discover the real truth behind Sally’s disappearance.

Only to find out she’s dealing with a much bigger problem, a serial killer, and she may be the next victim…

Will Mattie be able to find out the truth before the killer finds her?

Number of pages; 284

Price; FREE on Kindle – aha it’s those nifty YA genres again which have book #1 of a series free

Number of reviews; 456 Amazon Uk, 1141 Amazon.com

Would I BUY or PASS… BUY and I have just downloaded it.

Analysis

I chose the book from the cover and the book title, I like ghosts stories and mediums, the book description didn’t frighten me too much, hopefully it’s strong on the ghost side rather than the gruesome murders. I hadn’t spotted it was a #YA even with the teenager man character. Not until I saw the price and that it was one of a series and then I realised it was #YA. So for me this is a great introduction to horror, the #YA genre should keep the horror light enough for me to sleep at night. This genre of authors have book series sales down to a T, they offer the first book free to haul in the readers, get them hooked and then get them to pay for the subsequent books. I’ve downloaded my copy. Now I’ve seen the smaller tagline this series is “soon to be a movie” and as this book was published in 2013 it has probably already been made into a movie, I rarely match movies, so you’ll have to tell me readers if you know of it.

Other bloggers taking part in today’s #FridayFiveChallenge

Barb wants you to vote on book covers that differ for UK and US versions – vote here

Liz has found a book set in the tropics. The Separation by Dinah Jefferies

Shelley is looking at A Rick Riordan Book Big Red Tequila

Cathy has found Historical Romance Tame The Wild Wind by Roseanne Bittner

Megan has joined us this week and she’s looked at My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

Paula found a “Sugary” adult children’s book Liquor, Drugs and Sugar